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HARVARD
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LIBRARY
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CKANIA JIGYPTIACA;
OB,
OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
DERIVED PROM
ANATOMY, HISTORY AND THE MONUMENTS.
BY
SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON, M.D.,
AUTHOR OF <* CRANIA AMERICANA;" MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL 80CIETT; TICE-PREBIDBNT OF THE
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILAPELPHIA, ETC. ETC.
From the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol II
c
PHILADELPHIA:
JOHN PENINGTON, CHESTNUT STREET.
LONDON:
MADDEN & CO., LEADENHALL STREET.
1844.
V
4n 3S3y/W
/
i€^.
. £/^t?^^;<:/tf>c.
■\-"-^
• i
WILLIAM S. YOUNG, PRINTER.
TO
GEORGE R. GLIDDON, ESQ.,
LATE UNITED STATES CONSUL FOR THE CITY OF CAIRO; AUTHOR OF "ANCIENT EGYPT;
&C. &C. &C.,
THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
AS A MEMENTO
.yy
OF THE ESTEEM AND FRIENDSHIP OF
THE AUTHOR,
Philadelphia,
February 23, 1844.
OBSERVATIONS
ON
EGYPTIAN ETHNOaRAPHY,
DBRITBD ntOM
ANATOMY, HISTORY AND THE MONUMENTS.
Read before the American PMlosophical Society^ in Philadelphia^ December 16, 1842, atul
January 6, and April 6, 1843.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
Egypt is justly regarded as the parent of civilization, the cradle of the arts, the land
of mystery. Her monuments excite our wonder, and her history confounds chronology;
and the very people who thronged her cities would be unknown to us, were it not for
those vast sepulchres whence the dead have arisen, as it were, to bear witness for them-
selves and their country. Yet even now, the physical characteristics of the ancient
Egyptians are regarded with singular diversity of opinion by the learned, who variously
refer them to the Jews, Arabs, Hindoos, Nubians, and Negroes. Even the details of
organic structure have been involved in the same uncertainty, — the configuration of the
head, the position of the ear, the form of the teeth, the colour of the skin, and the texture
of the hair; while the great question is itself undetermined — whether civilization ascended
or descended the Nile; — whether it had its origin in Egypt or in Ethiopia.* These con-
flicting opinions long since made me desirous to investigate the subject for myself; but
the many difficulties in the way of obtaining adequate materials, compelled me to suspend
the inquiry; and it is only within a recent period that I have been able effectively to re-
sume it. It gives me great pleasure to state, that my present facilities have been almost
exclusively derived, directly or indirectly, from the scientific zeal and personal friendship
of George R. Gliddon, Esq., late United States consul for the city of Cairo. During a
former visit to the United States, this gentleman entered warmly into my views and
wishes; and on his return to the East, in 1838, he commenced his researches on my
behalf; and in the course of his various travels in Egypt and in Nubia, as far as the
second Cataract, he procured one hundred and thirty-seven human crania, of which one
hundred pertain to the ancient inhabitants of Egypt. Of these last, seventeen were most
obligingly sent me, at the instance of Mr. Gliddon, by M. Clot Bey, the distinguished
Surgeon in chief to the Viceroy of Egypt They are arranged by the latter gentleman
into two series, the Pharaonic, and the Ptolemaic; but without availing myself of this
classification, I have merely regarded them in reference to their national characters.
Mr. Gliddon's residence for the greater part of twenty-three years in Egypt, and his
varied official and other avocations, together with his acquaintance with the people, and
their languages, have given him unusual facilities for collecting the requisite materials;
1
2 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
while their authenticity is amply vouched for by one who blends the character of a gen-
tleman with the attainments of a scholar.
The object of this memoir, therefore, will be to throw some additional light on the
questions to which I have adverted, and to ascertain, if possible, the Ethnographic cha-
racters of the primitive Egyptians; or, in other words, to point out their relative position
among the races of men.
It is necessary, however, to premise, that the materials in my possession, were col-
lected without the slightest bias of opinion on the part of Mr. Gliddon, who, at the
period in question, had paid no particular attention to Ethnography; and indeed very
many of these crania were received by me in their original wrappings, which were first
removed, after the lapse of ages, by my own hands.
It is farther requisite to bear in mind, that, with a few exceptions I have no clew
whatever, whereby to ascertain or even to conjecture, the epoch to which these remains
have belonged. The Egyptian catacombs do not always contain their original occupants;
for these were often displaced and the tombs re-sold for mercenary purposes: whence it
happens, that mummies of the Greek and Roman epochs have been found in those more
ancient receptacles which had received the bodies of Egyptian citizens of a far earlier
date. The bodies thus displaced, however, were not destroyed; and the Egyptians of at
least twenty-five centuries before our era, though for the most part mingled without
regard to rank or epoch, are still preserved in their interminable cemeteries.
I disclaim all knowledge of hieroglyphic literature; but I may express my conviction
that the past discoveries and pending researches of Young, Champollion, Rosellini,
Wilkinson, Lepsius, and some other illustrious men, are destined to unravel much that
has hitherto been regarded as mystical in Egyptian history; while the invaluable dis-
closures which they have already made, entitle them to the lasting gratitude of the
student of Archaeology.
A few words in reference to chronology. Rosellini places the accession of the Sixteenth
dynasty of Egyptian kings at 2272 years before Christ. Champollion adopts a nearly
similar arrangement. The learned Dr. Wiseman admits that there are monuments in
Egypt as old as 2200 years before our era; and Dr. Prichard dates the accession of Menes
two centuries earlier in time. The veneration with which these authors regard the
Sacred Writings, has given me the greater confidence in their opinions, which I therefore
adopt in general for the distant landmarks of time; especially as the latter come fairly
within the range of the Septuagint chronology, which places the epoch of the Deluge at
3154 years B. C, and thus gives room for the most ancient of the Egyptian monuments.
In respect to later and subordinate dates, I have been governed exclusively by the pub-
lished system of Professor Rosellini, which is regarded by competent judges as more
complete than any other.
I have great pleasure in stating, that for the unrestricted use of the first copy of Rosel-
lini's splendid work which was brought to the United States, I am indebted to an accom-
plished traveller, Richard K. Haight, Esq., of New York; a gentleman who devotes his
leisure hours and opulent income to the promotion of arcbseological knowledge.
To John Gliddon, Esq., United States consul at Alexandria, to the Rev. George W.
Bridges, and to M. E. Prisse, now in Egypt, I also take this occasion to express my sin-
cere acknowledgments for the practical zeal with which they have aided my researches.
DERIVED FROM ANATOHV, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 3
I have been enabled to make extensive and satisfactory comparisons by means of nearly
six hundred human crania, which form a part of my private anatomical collection. The
numbers in brackets refer to corresponding numbers on the skulls themselves, and in my
printed catalogue; and will serve as a future test of the accuracy of my observations,
which, embracing as they do, such a multitude of details, may require some revision and
correction.
How far the following observations may assist in solving a problem which, until lately,
has been clothed in equal obscurity and interest, is not for me to determine; but I trust
they will at least, have the effect of inciting others to researches of a similar nature.
EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY.
« Vix quidcm monitu opus est in tanta seculorum eerie qua mos cadavera balsamo condiendi in ^gypto solcmnis fecit,
inque tarn variorum ejus terne dominorum et incolarum vicissitudine magnam mumias intercedere debcre variatatcm tarn
quod ad condituree variam rationem ct matcriem; quam quod ad craniorum in mumiis gentilitiam formam et apecicm."
— Blumenbach, Decad, Cran. p. 12.
It was remarked fifty years ago by the learned Professor Blumenbach, that a principal
requisite for an inquiry such as we now propose, would be "a very careful, technical
examination of the skulls of mummies hitherto met with, together with an accurate
comparison of these skulls with the monuments." This is precisely the design I have in
view in the following memoir, which I therefore commence by an analysis of the cha-
racters of all the crania now in my possession. These may be referred to two of the
great races of men, the Caucasian and the Negro, although there is a remarkable
disparity in the number of each. The Caucasian heads also vary so much among them-
selves as to present several different types of this race, which may, perhaps, be appro-
priately grouped under the following designations : —
CAUCASIAN RACE.
1. The *Pelasgic Type. In this division I place those heads which present the finest
conformation, as seen in the Caucasian nations of western Asia, and middle and southern
Europe. The Pelasgic lineaments are familiar to us in the beautiful models of Grecian
art, which are remarkable for the volume of the head in comparison with that of the face,
the large facial angle, and the symmetry and delicacy of the whole osteological structure.
Plate III., Fig. 6, and Plate X., Fig. 8, are among the many examples of this confor-
mation.
2. The Semitic Type, as seen in the Hebrew communities, is marked by a compara-
tively receding forehead, long, arched, and very prominent nose, a marked distance
between the eyes, a low heavy broad, and strong and often harsh development of the
whole facial structure. Plate XI., Fig. 2.
* I do not use thii term with ethnographic preciBion ; but merely to indicate the most perfect type of cranio-fkcial
outline. ^
4 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
3. The Egyptian form differs from the Pelasgic in having a narrower and more
receding forehead, while the face being more prominent, the facial angle is consequently
less. The nose is straight or aquiline, the face angular, the features often sharp, and the
hair uniformly long, soft, and curling. In this series of crania I include many of which
the conformation is not appreciably different from that of the Arab and Hindoo; but I
have not, as a rule, attempted to note these distinctions, although they are so marked as
to have induced me, in the early stage of the investigation, and for reasons which will
appear in the sequel, to group them, together with the proper Egyptian form, under the
provisional name of Austral-Egyptian crania. I now, however, propose to restrict the
latter term to those Caucasian communities which inhabited the Nilotic valley above
Egypt. Among the Caucasian crania are some which appear to blend the Egyptian
and Pelasgic characters: these might be called EgypttyPelasgic heads; but without
making use of this term, except in a very few instances by way of illustration, I have
thought best to transfer these examples from the Pelasgic group to the Egyptian, inas-
much as they so far conform to the latter series as to be identified without difficulty.
For examples of this mixed form, I refer especially to Plate XI., Fig. 1, and Plate III.,
Fig. 7.
■
NEGRO RACE.
The true Negro conformation requires no comment; but it is necessary to observe that
a practised eye readily detects a few heads with decidedly mixed characters, in which
those of the Negro predominate. For these I propose the name of Negroid crania ; for
while the osteological development is more or less that of the Negro, the hair is long but
-sometimes harsh, thus indicating that combination of features which is familiar in the
mulatto grades of the present day. It is proper, however, to remark in relation to the
whole series of crania, that while the greater part is readily referrible to some one of the
above subdivisions, there remain other examples in which the Caucasian traits pre-
dominate, but are partially blended with those of the Negro, which last modify both the
structure and expression of the head and face.
We proceed, in the next place, to analyze these crania individually, arranging them,
for the purpose of convenience, into seven series, according to their sepulchral localities,
beginning with the Necropolis of Memphis in the north :
First series, from the Memphite Necropolis.
A. Pyramid of five steps.
B. Saccara, generally.
C. Front of the Brick Pyramid of Dashour.
D. North-west of the Pyramid of Five Steps.
E. Toora, on the Nile.
Second series, from the Grottoes of Maabdeh.
Third series, from Abydos.
Fourth series, from the Catacombs of Thebes.
Fifth series, from Eoum Ombos.
Sixth series, from the Island of Beggeh, near Phil®.
Seventh Series, from Debod in Nubia.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HI8T0RT| AND THB MONUMENTS. 5
FIRST SERIES.
TWENTY-SIX SKULLS FROM THE NECROPOLIS OF MEMPHIS.
This vast Necropolis extends from the Pyramids of Gizeh to the southern limit of
Saccara, a distance of about fifteen miles. The tombs are cut in the solid rock, and
frequently communicate with one another, forming a vast subterranean labyrinth. Mem-
phis is well known to be one of the oldest, if not indeed the oldest of the Egyptian cities;
and among the tombs now extant Professor Rosellini has found some which bear inscrip-
tions of a date nearly 2300 years before Christ, at which period Memphis must have
been a large and flourishing city. The simpler catacombs were probably constructed i
before the pyramids; for these last could only result from centuries of civilization, and 1
next to the catacombs, are the oldest existing monuments of the human race. !
A. — ^FROM THE PYRAMID OF FIVE STEPS.
In the month of August, 1839, Mr. J. S. Perring, the distinguished Engineer, discovered
a fourth entrance to this pyramid, which was found to communicate with a recess at the
south-western comer of a large apartment described in his narrative. This communica-
tion is a horizontal gallery one hundred and sixty-six feet long, and the recess is seventy
feet above the floor. " The southern end of the gallery," observes Colonel Vyse, " was
stopped up with sand ; but for the length of one hundred and sixty feet from the interior
it was open, and did not seem to have been previously visited, as nearly thirty mummies
were found in it apparently undisturbed. They had neither coffins nor sarcophagi, nor,
with the exception of three or four, any painted decorations. They crumbled to pieces
on being touched, and could not be removed. Mr. Perring, therefore, proceeded to exa-
mine them. He found them enclosed in wrappers, with pitch and bitumen; but he did
not meet with any of the objects usually deposited with mummies, excepting some of
the common stone idols upon the body of the female. He therefore concluded that they
were the bodies of persons employed in the building."^
Fortunately for my inquiries, Mr. Gliddon was at hand when these relics were
brought to light, and obtained them of Mr. Perring as a contribution to my researches.
With the utmost care on Mr. Gliddon's part, two of three reached me in safety, but the
third was broken into numberless fragments. In fiict, the consistence of these bones is
but little firmer than unbaked clay, and the animal matter is nearly obliterated. If Mr.
Perring's opinion be correct, that the persons to whom these bodies belonged were
coeval with the construction of the pyramid, we may with safety regard them as the
most ancient human remains at present known to us. Whether, as that gentleman
suggests, they pertained to workmen employed in building the pyramid, I will not pre-
tend to decide; but although they present indifferent intellectual developments, their
conformation is that of the Caucasian race.
Plate I., Fig. 1. (Cat. 838.) An oval head with a broad but rather low forehead,
moderately elevated vertex, and full occiput. The superciliary ridges are prominent^
the orbits oblong-oval, the nasal bones large, salient and aquiline, the teeth vertical
* Explorationt at the Pyramidf, Vol. III., p. 44.
6 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
and the whole facial structure delicate. The head of a woman of about forty years.* —
I. C. 90 cubic inches. F. A. 81°. Pelasgic form.
Plate L, Fig. 2. (Cat. 837.) A large and ponderous skull, with a broad but low
forehead, and very prominent superciliary ridges. The vertex is elevated, the occipital
region remarkably full, and the parietal diameter large. The bones of the face are
delicately formed, the nose long and aquiline, the orbits rounded, the teeth vertical. —
I. C. 97 cubic inches. F. A. 83°. Pelasgic form.
This is the skull of a man who may have reached his fiftieth year. The teeth are
much worn, and parts of the sutures nearly obsolete. This person, long antecedent to
his death, had received a severe wound over the right orbit, beginning at the nasal bone
and extending upwards and outwards nearly two inches, fracturing and depressing both
tables of the skull. The consequent deformity is manifest, although the cicatrization is
complete.
B. — ^FROM THE MEMPHITE NECROPOLIS.
Eleven skulls from various mummy pits in the great Necropolis of Saccara. In Mr.
Gliddon's memoranda he remarks that these heads were mostly taken from the mum-
mies themselves, and from the best constructed pits; and that having been enclosed in
coffins painted and otherwise ornamented with different degrees of care, they probably
pertained to the higher class of Egyptians.
Plate II., Fig. 1. (Cat. 808.) A large elongate-oval head, with a broad, high forehead,
low coronal region, and strongly aquiline nose. The orbits nearly round ; teeth perfect
and vertical. — I. C. 97 cubic inches. F. A. 77°. Pelasgic form.
Plate IL, Fig. 2. (Cat. 815.) A beautifully formed head, with a forehead high, full,
and nearly vertical, a good coronal region, and largely developed occiput. The nasal
bones are long and straight, and the whole facial structure delicately proportioned. Age,
between thirty and thirty-five years. — I. C. 88 cubic inches. F. A. 81°. Pelasgic form.
Plate II., Fig. 3. (Cat. 812.) Skull of a woman of twenty years? with a beautifully
developed forehead, and remarkably thin and delicate structure throughout. The frontal
suture remains. — I. C. 82 cubic inches. F. A. 80°, Pelasgic form.
Plate II., Fig. 4. (Cat. 806.) A thin cranium, of a short-oval form; the forehead is
broad, the coronal region low, and the whole face prominent. Age, aboift thirty years.
I. C. 83 cubic inches. F. A. 77°. Egyptian form.
Plate IL, Fig. 5. (Cat. 814.) Cranium of a man of eighty or ninety years, Vith a
full but rather receding forehead, and strongly developed cranial structure. — I. C. 97
cubic inches. Pelasgic form.
Plate II., Fig. 6. (Cat. 810.) An admirable conformation, as seen in the broad, high
forehead, full occiput, and gently aquiline nose. Probably a female of twenty years. —
I. C. 86 cubic inches. F. A. 78°. Egyptian form ?
Plate II., Fig. 7. : (Cat. 806.) A narrow, elongated head, with an indifferent frontal
region. A man of fifty?— I. C. 79 cubic inches. F. A. 83®. Pelasgic form.
* The letten I. C, denote the internal capacity of the cranium. — F. A., the Facial Angle. The skulls of persons
under sixteen or eighteen years of age are seldom measured, and never admitted into the computations of this memoir.
DERIVED FROM ANATOHT, HISTORY, AND THE HONtTMBNTS. 7
Plate II., Fig. 8. {Cat. 807.) A large, thin, oval craniam, with a broad, receding fore-
head, tumid occiput, a long and very aquiline nose, and remarkably prominent ftce.
The frontal suture remains entire. Probably a man of thirty years. — I. C. 88 cubic
inches. F. A. 74". Semitic form.
Plate III., Fig. 2. (Cat. 809.) A female head, with a somewhat receding forehead
and low coronal region. — I. C. 81 cubic inches. F. A. TS"*. 'Egyptian farm.
Plate III., Fig. 1. (Cat 811.) A small head, with a narrow frontal region, receding
forehead, and broad parietal diameter. A female? of about twenty-five years. — I. C.
73 cubic inches. F. A. 76°. Egyptian form.
(Cat. 813.) Skull of a child of eight years, with a finely developed forehead, tumid
occiput and full facial angle. Pelasgic form.
C. — FROM THE FRONT OF THE NORTHERN BRICK PYRAMID OF DA8H0DR.
Three skulls exhumed by Mr. Perring from the above mentioned locality in the Mem-
phite Necropolis. They were discovered in the month of August, 1839, in the process
of trenching to find an entrance to the pyramid. The following extract fi-om Col. Vyse's
admirable work embraces all the information we possess in relation to these remains,
merely premising that none of the tpummied heads alluded to has come into my pos-
" At the depth of about four feet six inches, above fifty bodies were found, ten of which
were mummies, embalmed and deposited in the usual manner. The others were much
decayed, and had been buried in their clothos, and in some instances were bound round
with common cord and laid in wooden coffins, or among a few branches of date trees.
Some of the clothes were woollen, others coarse linen, with a fringed border of bright
scarlet worsted. The heads were covered with bright red network. Mr. Perring ima-
gined that these bodies had belonged to a pastoral people, probably to Bedouins, and that
they had been interred, together with the mummies, at a very early period, before the
introduction of Christianity." Vyse, Pyramids, III., p. 60.
These crania, which are remarkably small, possess much of the Egyptian form, and
are well represented in the following outlines.
(Cat. 796.) An oval cranium with a receding forehead, full coronal region, strongly
developed upper maxilla, and prominent face. — I. C. 75 cubic inches. F. A. 76**. —
Egyptian blended with the Negroid form?
(Cat 796.) A small oval head, low forehead, and salient and very aquiline nose. Fa-
8 OBSERVATIONS ON EOTPTUN ETHNOGRAPHY,
cial bones thin and delicately proportioned. — L G. 80 cubic inches. F. A. 75^. Egyp-
tian/arm.
(Cat 797.) A small, thin, irregularly formed head, with a full forehead and salient
nose. The alveoli are absorbed by age. A woman of 70 years? — ^I. G. 76 cubic inches.
Egj^tian/orm.
D. — ^FROM THE NECROPOLIS OF MlBMPHIS, NORTH-WEST OF THE PYRAMID OF FIVE STEPS.
Nine skulls of mummied Egyptians, taken by Mr. Gliddon from a large pit which had
just been opened by the Arabs. Mr. G. remarks that No. 803 is a male, and 804 a fe-
male, both unwrapped by his own hands. '* These mummies were all of a superior order,
and enclosed in wooden cases. The pit was opened in my presence, and consisted of a
deep shaft cut through the solid rock, with two or three chambers filled with undisturbed
mummies.''
Scarcely any integuments remain on these heads, the removal of the wrappings leaving
the bone for the most part completely denuded.
Plate III., Fig. 3. (Gat 804.) A remarkably beautiful female head, not exceeding the
age of twelve years. Pelasgtc/arm.
Plate III., Fig. 4. (Gat 799.) A ponderous skull, with a fine frontal, and full coro-
nal region. Probably a man of 35 years. — ^I. G. 87 cubic inches. F. A. 82®. Pelasgic
form.
Plate III., Fig. 6. (Gat 816.) A beautifully oval and finely arched cranium, with a
high, prominent forehead, tumid occiput, aquiline nose, and oblong orbitar cavities. A
man of 45? — I. G. 92 cubic inches. F. A. 78®. Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 6. (Gat 798.) A delicately proportioned and finely arched head.
The cheek bones are small, and the nose strongly aquiline. Age, about 45 years. — ^I. G.
84 cubic inches. F. A. 80°. Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 7. (Gat 802.) A finely developed cranium, with a delicate, but rather
prominent face, and strongly arched nose. Probably a female of 50 years. — I. G. 81 cubic
inches. Egypto-Pelasgicform.
Plate III., Fig. 8. (Gat 803.) A large, oval head, with a broad, receding forehead,
low coronal region, and salient nose. A man of 45 or 50 years. — I. G. 92 cubic inches.
F. A. 82°. Pelasgic form.
(Gat 800.) Skull of a child of 10 years, with a receding forehead, narrow, projecting
face, and salient teeth. Negroid form.
(Gat 801.) A juvenile head, heavy, but beautifully proportioned, especially in the
frontal region. Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 9. (Gat. 825.) A large and remarkably intellectual head, of the finest
proportions throughout The hair is in part preserved, and is long, smooth and of a
dark brown colour. — I. G, 93 cubic inches. F. A. 81®. Pelasgic form.
E. — FROM TOORA, ON THE NILE.
Plate II., Fig. 9. (Gat 840.) Skull of a man firom the ancient quarries at Toora, op*
posite Memphis, on the east bank of the Nile, about seven miles above Gairo. From
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. d
this place the stones were obtained for building the Pyramids of Gizeh, and many later
structures, down to the epoch of the Ptolemies. Mr. Gliddon was present at the exhu-
mation of several of these crania, yet, owing to their extremely fragile state, but one
reached me in safety, and for this I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Mash. They
were found in rude sarcophagi of limestone, and wrapped in coarse matting. These
remains, which were discovered in 1837-38, are supposed to have pertained to the master-
quarry men.
The head figured is of an elongated oval form, with a moderate frontal development
and low coronal region. The nose is strongly salient and aquiline, and the whole cra-
nial structure thin and delicate. — I. C. 89 cubic inches. F. A. 79°. Pelasgicjbrm.
Remarks on the preceding series of Crania. — A mere glance at this group of skulls will
satisfy any one accustomed to comparisons of this kind, that most of them possess the Cau-
casian traits in a most striking and unequivocal manner, whether we regard their form,
size, or facial angle. It is, in fact, questionable whether a greater proportion of beautifully
moulded heads would be found among an equal number of individuals taken at random
from any existing European nation. The entire series consists of sixteen examples of
the Pelasgic and seven of the Egyptian form, a single Semitic head, one of the Negroid
variety, and one of mixed conformation. Of the antiquity of these remains there can be
no question ; and with respect to a part of them, those from the Pyramid of Five Steps,
we have evidence of a more precise character.
These most ancient mummies appear to have been prepared with but little bitumen,
and to have undergone desiccation by some primitive and simple process of embalming;
such, for example, as first saturating the body in natron, and then subjecting it to heat in
an oven. It is also to be remarked, that in these two heads the brain has not been re-
moved through the nostrils, according to the general custom, for the ethmoid bone is
unbroken ; and the cranial contents could therefore only have been withdrawn through
the foramen magnum at the base of the skull.
This last remark also applies to sixteen other heads of this series; whence I was at
first led to suppose that they could not pertain to a very remote epoch. But when we
find that the oldest remains are similarly characterized, and bear in mind that the removal
of the brain through the nose was a conventional part of the more perfect art of embalm-
ing, may we not suppose that this imperforate state of the cranium points to an early
epoch of Egyptian history, before mankind had resorted to those elaborate methods of
preserving the dead body which are so remarkable in the Theban catacombs? It has
been conjectured that the proximity of the Natron Lakes to the city of Memphis gave rise
to the custom of embalming; and it is not an improbable supposition that the profuse
employment of bitumen was a subsequent refinement of the art. This suggestion derives
some support from another fact; namely, that in every instance in which I have observed
the brain to have been removed througli the nose, the bones and integuments are much
more charged with bitumen than in the imperforate crania.
It may, perhaps, be conjectured by some that the Pelasgic heads of this series belong
to the Ptolemaic epoch, and hence pertain to the Greek inhabitants of that age : but it
must be remembered that the rule of the Ptolemies lasted but about three hundred years;
whereas the Egyptians were themselves the masters of Memphis, and entombed their dead
3
10 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYFnAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
in its necropolis more than two thousand years before either the Persians or Greeks
effected the conquest of the country, no less than during the period of and after these
epochs of foreign domination.
Of the sixteen adult Pelasgic skulls in this series, two or three are small; yet the whole
number gives about 88 cubic inches for the average internal capacity of the cranium, or
size of the brain, while the mean of the facial angle is 80^. The seven Egyptian crania
have a mean internal capacity of 80 cubic inches, and a facial angle of 77°.
SECOND SERIES.
FOUR HEADS FROM THE GROTTOES OF MAABDEH, NEAR MAGARAT-ES-SAMOUN.
This is the name of a series of sepulchral grottoes in Middle Egypt, on the limestone
hill opposite Manfaloot, and near the modern village of Maabdeh. It is within the
ancient nome of Heracleopolis. This cemetery is a natural cavern, which was chiefly
dedicated to embalmed crocodiles, but in some measure, also, to man. Mr. Gliddon ob-
serves that the human mummies are of the common order, and adds: ''I brought them
from a measured distance of 438 feet under ground, horizontally, averaging about twenty
feet below the surface.*'
Plate IV., Fig. 1. (Cat. 833.) A large, oval head, with a very low, receding fore-
head, and large, aquiline nose. A man of 36 years? The hair is long, soft, and curling,
and the beard is partially preserved on the lower jaw, Pelasgic form ?
This person has been much disfigured by ulceration of the cartilage of the nose and
the adjacent integuments; part of the upper lip has been renloved by the disease, which
appears partially on the lower jaw, and may account for the beard not having been shaved.
The embalming process has been very carefully conducted. Large lozenge-shaped patches
of gold-leaf are seen on the centre of the forehead and over each eye, with smaller pieces
dispersed in other places, and especially on the bone and teeth of the upper jaw, where
these have been denuded or exposed by ulceration.
Plate IV., Fig, 3. (Cat. 834,) A female head, of a short, oval form, with a narrow,
receding forehead, prominent nose, and very protruding maxillae. The teeth, which are
salient, indicate a person of 26 or 30 years of age; and the lower jaw, which is very
angular, has a remarkable downward projection. The hair was long, but harsh, and was
necessarily removed with the integuments, on account of the imperfect nature of the em-
balment, which appeared to have been effected with a sdft or tar-like bitumen. Negroid
form.
Plate IV., Fig. 3. (Cat. 835,) A woman of 30? with a long, narrow head, slightly
salient nose, and very projecting face. The hair is eight or ten inches long, harsh, but
not wiry. Negroid form. I. C. 71 cubic inches. F. A. 73°.
Plate IV., Fig. 4. (Cat. 836.) A female head of a fine oval form, with a broad, con-
vex forehead, low coronal region, and strongly aquiline nose. This head retains a pro-
fusion of long, fine, curling hair, and the face is gilded over the eyes and lips. This is
a striking example of the tumid face which is not unfrequently seen on the monuments.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 11
Remarks. — ^The two Negroid heads belong, obviously, to the lower class of people,
for the bodies have been hastily and imperfectly embalmed, without mummy cases, and
in ordinary wrappings. The two latter remarks apply to the other individuals of this
series, which have, nevertheless, been much more carefully embalmed.
THIRD SERIES.
FOUR SKULLS FROM ABYDOS.
The city of Abydos, the second in size in the Thebaid, was on the west bank of the
Nile, and, like Thebes, possessed a palace of Rameses III., and a temple of Osiris, the
guardian divinity of the city.
Plate v.. Fig. 1, (Cat. 819.) An elongated head, with an indifferent frontal and low
coronal region, straight nose, small orbits, and prominent upper jaw. — I. C. 86 cubic inches.
F. A. 79°. Egyptian form.
Plate v.. Fig. 2. (Cat. 820.) A large and finely moulded cranium, with a broad,
full forehead, and long, but abruptly salient nose. The upper jaw has a remarkable
downward elongation, which reduces the F. A. to 76°. — I. C. 96 cubic inches. A man
of 40. Egyptian form.
Plate v., Fig. 3. (Cat. 817.) A large, beautifully developed cranium, of harmonious
proportions, but somewhat ponderous structure. — I. C. 89 cubic inches. F. A. 80°.
Pdasgicform.
Plate v.. Fig. 4. (Cat. 818.) A small head, narrow and retreating, with a tumid
occiput, very large, aquiline nose, and delicate, prominent face. — I. C. 69 cubic inches.
P. A. 77°. Semitic form.
Remarks. — In a memorandum accompanying these skulls, Mr. Gliddon observes that
'^ they were obtained from a mummy-pit behind the temple of Rameses III., and they
belong to the best class. Among the relics found in the same pit were a scarabseus, bear-
ing the prenomen of Thotmes IV., and a piece of stamped pottery, (apparently enclosed
with a mummy to denote the epoch,) which bore the nomen of Rameses III. It may,
therefore, be reasonably conjectured, that these remains belong to the eighteenth Diospo-
litan dynasty, fixed by Professor Rosellini between the years 1822 and 1874, B. C.*'
The four heads are entirely denuded, but little appearance of bitumen remaining; nor
is the ethmoid bone perforated. The bones bear the impress of age, and, in one instance,
have become softened, and almost friable, from decomposition.
FOURTH SERIES.
FIFTY-FIVE HEADS FROM THE CATACOMBS OF THEBES.
The greater part of this extensive and singularly perfect and varied series of heads,
was collected by Mr. Gliddon during two visits to Thebes. They were all taken from
12 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHN06RAFHT,
the catacombs at El Gouma^ on the western bank of the Nile. If we may judge by the
different degrees of care manifested in the embalming process, they embrace individuals
of every class excepting the highest and lowest; for the latter, according to the testimony
of Herodotus, were never embalmed in the proper sense of that word ; and the former
were deposited in more elaborate sepulchres.
Plate VI., Fig. 1. (Cat. 860.) A man of fifty, with a small but well proportioned
cranium. The bones of the face are small, and the whole osseous structure very thin.
— I. C. 80 cubic inches. F. A. 82°. Egyptian form.
(Cat. 853.) Head of a man of fifty, with a low coronal region, receding forehead, full
occiput, aquiline nose, and remarkable flatness beneath the temporal muscles. — I. C. 95
cubic inches. Egyptian form.
Plate VI., Fig 2. (Cat. 865.) An oval head with a full but retreating forehead,
a large, aquiline nose, and angular, prominent face. The eyes are embalmed open.
Semitic form.
Plate VI., Fig. 3. (Cat. 893.) A singularly thin cranium, especially in the lateral
parietal regions. The forehead is moderately expanded and the nose straight. — ^I. C. 86
cubic inches. F. A. 81^. Pelasgic form.
Plate VI., Fig. 4. (Cat. 850.) A large oval cranium, with a voluminous forehead, a
small aquiline nose, and rounded orbits. Age, seventy to eighty years? — ^I. C. 86 cubic
inches. Pelasgic form.
Plate y I., Fig. 5. (Cat 859.) An octogenarian female, with a small but well pro-
portioned head, and delicate facial bones. This cranium, which is remarkable for its
tenuity, retains a very little smooth, long hair. — I. C. 82 cubic inches. Pelasgic form.
Plate VI., Fig. 6. (Cat. 881.) Skull of a female not exceeding seventeen years of
age, with a beautifully developed forehead, and delicate facial bones, yet possessing an
obvious downward elongation of the upper jaw, as in the Hindoo. — I. C. 71 cubic inches.
F. A. 80°. Egyptian form.
Plate VI., Fig. 7. (Cat. 889.) A well formed, oval head, with a remarkably promi-
nent nose and chin. — I. C. 83 cubic inches. F. A. 83®. Egyptian form.
Plate VI., Fig. 8. (Cat. 870.) A long oval cranium, with a broad, receding forehead,
tumid occiput, very long aquiline nose, and sharp features. The hair, which is cut close,
is brown and silky. — ^I. C. 79 cubic inches. A man of thirty? Semitic form.
Plate VI., Fig. 9. (Cat 876.) A small, but oval male head, with hair of a fine
texture and brown colour. — ^I. C. 83 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
Plate VIL, Fig. 1. (Cat. 851.) A narrow, elongated cranium, with a retreating fore-
head, and rather produced maxillse. The whole osseous structure is remarkably delicate.
A woman of thirty-five? — I. C. 79 cubic inches. F. A. 80®. Egyptian form.
Plate VII., Fig. 2. (Cat. 861.) Skull of a man of fifty, large and massive: forehead
and coronal region but moderately developed; face projecting, with a small, aquiline
nose. — I. C. 91 cubic inches. F. A. 78^ Egyptian form.
Plate VII., Fig. 3. (Cat. 857.) A female cranium, long, narrow, and much flattened
at the sides, and rather ponderous. The whole face is long, angular, and prominent,
with a slight yet manifest negro expression. A little hair remains, long, black, and
smooth. — ^I. C. 83 cubic inches. F. A. 77^. Egyptian^ blended with the Negro form?
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 13
Plate VIL, Fig. 4. (Gat. 848.) A female head, with a narrow but elevated and
finely arched frontal region, which forms, with the straight nose, something of a Grecian
profile. The face, however, is not in keeping with the head, being much produced. —
I. C. 82 cubic inches. F. A . 80^. Egyptian form.
Plate VH., Fig. 6. (Cat. 847.) A small head, narrow and laterally compressed, with
a well formed forehead, and full occiput. The nose is very large and salient, and the
maxillary structure much produced. A woman of thirty. — I. C. 68 cubic inches.
F. A. 76°. Egyptian form.
Plate VII., Fig. 6. (Gat. 864.) A small but well proportioned cranium of a female
not exceeding fifteen years of age. The forehead is full (by an oversight inadequately
represented in the drawing,) and the whole of the osseous structure extremely delicate.
Egyptian form.
(Cat. 849.) Skull of a man of twenty-five years, finely oval, with a broad receding
forehead, and full coronal region. Facial bones broken. — I. C. 81 cubic inehea Egyp-
tian form.
(Gat. 894.) A beautiful juvenile head, with a broad high forehead, large, prominent
nose, and oval orbits. Pdasgic form.
(Cat. 887.) A child of twelve or fourteen years, with a finely turned forehead, long,
aquiline nose, and vertical teeth. A little long, fine hair remains on the occiput.
Egyptian form.
(Cat 868.) Skull of a child of beautiful organization, excepting a slight inequality in
the occipital region. Pelasgic form*
Plate VIII., Fig. 1. (Cat. 878.) An elongated head, with a broad receding forehead^
long and nearly straight nose, and prominent chin. This person has been most care*
fully embalmed, with a profusion of gilding on various parts of the face. The hair is
soft and curling, and of a dark-brown colour. A man of fifty? — I. C. 77 cubic inches.
Egyptian form.
Plate VIII., Fig. 2. (Cat 879.) A man of fifty, admirably embalmed. A broad and
full, but receding forehead, a large aquiline nose, and strong maxills. Pdasgic head of
the Roman conformation.
Plate VIII., Fig. 3. (Cat 839.) A short-oval cranium, with a full but retreating
forehead, straight nose, and large prominent maxills. — I. C. 74 cubio inches. F. A. 78^.
Egyptian blended tvith the Negro form ?
Plate VIII., Fig. 4. (Cat 871.) A juvenile female head, with a full but receding
frontal region, long nose, sharp features, tumid occiput, and rounded otbiXs. Egyptian
form.
Plate VIII., Fig. 5. (Cat 866.) A small, juvenile, female head, with a convex but
retreating forehead, and the whole face remarkably sharp, projecting, and repulsive.
This head is elaborately gilded, and retains a portion of long, fine, smooth hair. Egyp-
tian form ?
(Cat 873.) An oval cranium, with a good frontal region, and salient nasal bones.
The alveoli have been almost destroyed by absorption consequent to advanced age.-~
L C. 88 cubic inches. Pdasgic form ?
14
OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
Plate VIII., Fig. 6. (Cat. 883.) A well developed cranium, with a long straight nose.
A man of forty?— I. C. 82 cubic inches. F. A. 81®. Egyptian farm.
(Cat. 888.) Head of a man of thirty-five years?
most carefully embalmed, with a high frontal region,
and very long prominent angular face. — I. C. 85 cubic
inches. Egyptian blended with Negro or Malay linea-
ments? The conformation of this head is not unlike
that of some modern Nubians.
Plate VIII., Fig. 7. (Cat. 880.) A female head?
of a fine oval form, long, straight nose, and quadran-
gular orbits. The angles of the lower jaw are re-
markably expanded. The hair, which is cut short,
is fine, and of a dark-brown colour. — ^I. C. 85 cubic
inches. F. A. 80°. Egyptian form.
Plate VIII., Fig. 8. (Cat. 867.) A large head with a broad convex frontal region,
and full occiput. The nose is large and remarkably salient, and the maxillary bones
projecting and ponderous. A little soft, dark-brown hair is attached to some remaining
fragments of the scalp. — I. C. 86 cubic inches. F. A. 78°. Egyptian form.
This person has evidently undergone decapitation, and in order to attach the head
again to the body, a ball of mummy cloth has been formed on the end of a piece of reed
Tvithin the cranium^ and the other end has been thrust between the spine and adjacent
muscles, and confined there by bandages. There is also an excision of the occipital pro-
tuberance, by means of an axe or other sharp instrument, seemingly made by an unskil-
ful effort to sever the head from the body.
Plate VIII., Fig. 9. (Cat. 865.) Head of a female not exceeding eighteen years of
age, with a finely developed forehead, very long aquiline nose, small but prominent face,
and very peculiar features. Hair, dark-brown, and extremely fine. The face is gilded.
— I. C. 78 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
(Cat 874.) Head of a child of nine or ten years, closely shaved and elaborately gilded,
with a high, full forehead, projecting jaws, and oblique teeth. Egyptian blended with
the Negro form ?
(Cat. 48.) Skull of a child of eight years, with a fine frontal region, but rather pro-
minent face. Hair long, and of a dark brown colour. Egyptian form.
Plate IX. (Cat. 866.) A cranium of harmonious proportions, with a fine forehead,
gently aquiline nose, delicate facial bones, and perfect teeth. A man of thirty? — I. C. 92
cubic inches. F. A. 80°. Egypto-Pelasgic form.
Plate X., Fig. 1. (Cat 844.) A finely formed female head, with a straight nose,
and delicate facial bones. Hair abundant, soft, and curling. — ^I. C. 68 cubic inches.
Egyptian form.
Plate X., Fig. 2. (Cat. 872.) A woman of fifty? — with a low receding forehead, and
prominent facial structure. Hair abundant, long, and very fine, of a light brown or
auburn colour, and elaborately curled and platted. — I. C. 72 cubic inches. Egyptian
form.
Plate X., Fig. 3. (Cat. 862.) Head of a man of sixty, with a broad receding forehead.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY| AND THE MONUMENTS. 15
salient nose and light facial bones. Hair, long, soft, and curling. — I. C. 79 cubic inches.
Egyptian form.
Plate X., Fig. 4. (Cat. 843.) Head of a woman of thirty? most carefully embalmed;
with a full forehead, very long, straight nose, and sharp delicate features, but prominent
face. There is a profusion of long, brown, curling hair. — I. C. 74 cubic inches. Egyp-
tian form.
Plate X., Fig. 6. (Cat. 877.) Head of a man with a broad receding forehead, salient
nose, and delicate features. Hair, dark-brown, smooth and curling. The beard, though
short, is preserved. — I. C. 89 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
Plate X., Fig. 6. (Cat 60.) Head of a female not exceeding eighteen years of age,
with a low forehead, long, straight nose, and rather prominent face. Hair long and fine.
This style of head is very common on the Egyptian monuments. Egyptian form.
Plate X., Fig. 7. (Cat. 882.) Head of a young girl, with a very prominent nose, and
long, smooth, curling hair : gilding on the eyelids and nose. Egyptian form.
Plate X., Fig. 8. (Cat. 884.) Head of a woman of thirty, of a faultless Caucasian
mould. The hair, which is in profusion, is of a dark-brown tint, and delicately curled.
Pelasgic form.
Plate X., Fig. 9. (Cat. 875.) A small female head, of seventy? years, with a fine frontal
development, straight nose, and large oval orbits. The long, curling hair is of a yellow-
ish colour, but has probably been gray, and dyed by henna. — I. C. 73 cubic inches.
Egyptian form.
Plate XI., Fig. 1. (Cat. 846.) Head of a youth of about eighteen years, with a
remarkably broad and lofty forehead, a small straight nose, and delicately formed face.
A little smooth, dark hair remains, and the whole has been elaborately embalmed, with
a profusion of gilding on the face. — I. C. 87 cubic inches. This is one of the most per-
fectly formed heads that have ever come under my notice, yet the eyes are widely separ
rated, the distance between the nose and mouth is remarkable, and the chin is short and
receding. Egypto-Pelasgic form.
Plate XI., Fig. 2. (Cat. 842.) Head of a man of about fifty years of age, with a
broad but very low and receding forehead. The nose is very large, and strongly aquiline,
the teeth vertical and much worn, the cheek bones prominent, and the whole face re-
markable for harshness of expression. A little brown hair remains on the occiput. —
I. C. 86 cubic inches. Semitic form.
This head possesses great interest, on account of its decided Hebrew features, of which
many examples are extant upon the monuments.
(Cat. 886.) Head of a man of fifty? small but well proportioned throughout. The
teeth, which are vertical, are remarkably worn by attrition. — I. C. 76 cubic inches.
Egyptian form.
Plate XII., Figs. 1, 2. (Cat. 845.) An oval head with a full forehead, and long
aquiline nose. The orbits are far apart, and the balls replaced with bone, on which the
iris is distinctly painted. The hair, which is cut short, is fine and straight. — I. C. 73
cubic inches. This head has something of the Semitic character, both as respects con-
figuration and expression, and I class it, though with some hesitation, with that series.
OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGBAFHT,
TWO HEADS OF LUNATICS, FROM THEBES.
Wood-cut 1. (Cat. 841.) An elongated head, with a very receding forehead, long,
aqoiline nose, and large, ponderous jaws, which project so as to reduce the facial angle to
about 65°. This person has been embalmed with
evident care, but with the mouth open, the tongue
protruded, and the eyeUds raised, giving a fright-
fully vacant expression to the whole countenance,
and leaving no reasonable doubt that this is the
head of an idiot. A little hair remains, which
is remarkably fine, and encroaches on the eye-
brows.
Wood-cut a. (Cat. 863.) Another idiotic head,
embalmed also with the mouth open and the
tongue partially protruded. The cranium is
long, the forehead low and receding, the face
remarkably prominent, and the whole expres-
sion, as in the former instance, to the last de-
gree vacant and repulsive. I presume that no
one BccDstomed to comparisons of this nature can
examine these heads, without agreeing with me
in opinion as to their position in the intellectual
scale. It may appear, and, indeed, is surprising,
that two idiotic heads should be found among one
hundred taken at random from the catacombs;
and I can only explain the fact by supposing that
a particular tomb was reserved for this unfortu-
nate class of persons; and that the Arab servant
employed by Mr. Gliddon, in his explorations at Thebes, invaded by chance this very
sanctum. It is well known that idiotic persons have, in all ages, been regarded with a
certain degree of veneration in the East; and hence their remains
yr , . would be likely, in Egypt, to be carefully preserved after death. In
^ ^ ) examining Professor Rosellini's plates, I find a solitary example of an
idiot, whose head is represented in the annexed diagram ; and it is
curious to remark, that the sagaoity of the Egyptian artist has admi-
rably adapted this man's vocation to his intellectual developments, for
he is employed in stirring the fire of a blacksmith's shop. This sin-
gular efQgy is seen at Thebes.
NEGROID BEADS.
In addition to the two heads of this class from Maabdeh and one from Memphis, I sob-
join descriptions and outline drawings of five others from Thebes, whieh are here grouped
for the advantage of more ready comparison.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMT, BISTORT, AND THE HONUUENTS.
Fig. 1. (Cat. 864.) A female cranium, of a narrow oval form, with a low, receding
forehead, small nose, and protruding face. There is much of the Negro ea^ession in the
bony structure of this head. — I. C .77 cubic inches. F. A. 75*'.
Fig. 3. (Cat. 858.) A large and rather ponderous cranium, with a well developed
forehead, salient nose, jaws powerfully developed and protruding, and the upper teeth
presenting obliquely outwards. — I. 0. 87 cubic inches. F. A. 77".
Fig. 3. (Cat. 885.) An oval head, with a convex frontal region, small, depressed
nose, and very projecting fece. — I. C. 77 cubic inches. F. A. 76°.
Fig. 4. (Cat 852.) A small head, with a low, receding forehead, and strong, small
nose, projecting maxills, and obvious Negro expression. A little hair remained, which
was cut short, and was coarse without being woolly. — I. C. 77 cubic inches. F. A. 75°.
Fig. 5. (Cat 869.) An oval head, with a good frontal development, salient nose, and
very projecting face. — I. C. 88 cubic inches. F. A. 76".
In the preceding five crania, the Negro features and expression greatly predominate;
at the same time there is an evident mixture of Caucasian characters. Two of them
might pass, perhaps, for genuine Negroes, but for the comparatively fine texture of the
hair. I therefore regard them as Mulattoes, to which class, also, may be referred a large
proportion of the modem Copts.
(Cat No. 1044.) The subjoined wood-cut illustrates a remarkable head, which may
serve as a type of the genuine Egyptian conformation. The long, oval cranium, the
receding forehead, gently aquiline nose, and retracted chin, together with a marked dis-
tance between the nose and mouth, and the long, smooth hair, are all characteristic of
the monumental Egyptian.
18 OBSERVATIONS ON KOTPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
FIFTH SERIES.
THREE HEADS FROM KOUM 0MB08.
The remains of this once celebrated city are seen on a sandy hill on the eastern bank
of the Nile, to the soath of Thebes. The Ombites were celebrated for the worship
of the crocodile, which they embalmed with care and deposited in the catacombs. The
three following heads were obtained by Mr. Gliddon from the Ombite necropolis.
Plate XII., Fig. 3. (Cat. 830.) A female head of 30 years, with a low, narrow fore-
head, straight nose, and sharp, prominent features. The hair, which is in profusion, is
long, fine and curling. — I. C. 77 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
Plate XII., Fig. 4. (Cat. 831.) Head of a woman of 30 years?, with a narrow, but
high and convex forehead, strong aquiline nose, and sharp facial structure. The hair is
abundant, long, fine and curling.-*-I. C. 68 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
Plate XII., Fig. 5. (Cat. 832.) An oval, thin skull, with a good firontal development,
salient nose and delicate facial bones. — F. A, 81®. Egyptian form.
It is remarkable that two of the preceding skulls (the third being too much broken for
measurement) give an average internal capacity of less than 73 cubic inches.
SIXTH SERIES.
FOUR HESIDS FROM A TUBIXTLUS NSAR THE ISLAND OF PHILJS.
Phil® was the ancient boundary between Egypt and Nubia, and this little island con-
tained several of the most venerated shrines of the Egyptian deities. The island of Beg-
geh (the ancient Senem) was also a consecrated spot, and is immediately contiguous to
Phil®. It contains a funereal tumulus, which is supposed to have been the common
sepulchre of those pilgrims who died during their sojourn, and hence, as Mr. Gliddon
remarks in his memoranda, '' they may have been of any nation or of any epoch.''
Plate XII., Fig. 6. (Cat. 821.) A finely moulded head, with a good frontal develop-
ment, aquiline nose, and delicate facial bones. — ^I. C. 74 cubic inches. F. A. 79®. P«-
lasgicform.
(Cat. 822.) A juvenile head, of perhaps 12 years, thin and inequilateral, with a good
forehead, and broad, inter-parietal diameter. The fisice is broken, and the ethmoid bone
imperforate. Egyptian form.
(Cat. 824.) A very narrow, infantile head, with brown, soft, curling hair. The face
is deficient, and the head is rather desiccated than embalmed. Egyptian form?
Plate XIL, Fig. 7. (Cat. 823.) An unmixed Negro^ with u narrow, elongated head,
well-developed forehead, short and flat nasal bones, everted upper jaw, and short, gray,
woolly hair. This appears to be the cranium of a woman of at least 60 years of age.
The bones are thin, and the whole structure remarkably small. — I. C. 73 cubic inches.
DERIVBD FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS.
19
SEVENTH SERIES.
FOUR SKULLS FROM DEBOD, IN NUBIA.
Debod or Deboud is about twelve miles south of Phil®, on the left bank of the Nile,
and in north latitude 24^. It was the site of the ancient Parembole, and yet possesses
some ruins of a once splendid temple of Ammon.
The following heads were all obtained from a single pit, and from the rude manner in
which they were embalmed and wrapped, Mr. Gliddon (who obtained them with his own
hands) supposes them to have pertained to people of the lower order.
Plate XII., Fig. 8. (Cat. 829.) Skull of a woman of 50? with a low but convex fore-
head, with which the nasal bones have formed a nearly straight line. The coronal region
is low, and the whole osseous structure strong and rather harsh. — Egyptian/arm. I. C.
70 cubic inches. F. A. 85°.
Plate Xn., Fig. 9. (Cat. 827.) Skull of a man of 40, which strongly resembles the
preceding. The forehead is low, but broad and vertical, the whole cranium long, the
coronal region compressed, the orbits large, and the upper maxillse slightly everted.~-
I. C. 82 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
Plate XIII. (Cat. 826.) A fine oval head, with a broad, high, convex forehead, large,
straight nose, and rather prominent maxillsB. On one side is a mass of long, black hair,
much curled, and of a fine texture. — ^I. C. 74 cubic inches. F. A. 77®, Egyptian form.
(Cat. 828.) An elongated, infantile head, with a narrow but vertical forehead, deli*
cately formed face, very full occiput, and (what is not uncommon in children) a F. A. of
90®. Egyptian form.
Remarks. — In addition to the preceding details, it remains to offer some general obser-
vations on the size and configuration of the head, together with a tabular view of the
whole series of crania, arranged in the first place, according to their sepulchral localities,
and, in the second, in reference to their national affinities.
Ethnographic Table of one hundred mneient Egyptian Crania.*
Bepolebnl LoeaUUc
Wo.
E^ptitB.
ralamie.
taiHie.
■Ued.
NeiraU.
Ifcigro*
Idiot.
Memphis,
26
7
16
1
1
1
Maabdeh,
4
1
1
«
Abydos,
4
2
1
1
Thebes,
55
30
10
4
4
5
8
Ombos,
3
3
PhU»,
4
2
1
1
Debod,
4
4
100
49
29
6
5
8
1
2|
* It will be obfenredf on comparing this table with the original one published in the Proceedings of the Society for
December, 1842, (and since republished in Mr. Qliddon's Ancient Egypt^) that there is a great difference in the
relative number of Pelasgic and Egyptian heads; which fact has been alrmidy adverted to, and explained, (page 4.) I
have been governed in the present classification, by the manliest presence of the Egyptian physiognomy, even in those
instances in which it appears to be blended with an equal and even preponderating Pelasgic character. It will be ob-
served, however, that the whole nutnber of Caucaeian heads is nearly the same in both tables ; and that the relative
proportion of Semitic, Negro and Negroid crania is unaltered.
20 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHV,
The preceding table speaks for itself. It shows that more than eight tenths of the
crania pertain to the unmixed Caucasian race; that the Pelasgic form is as one to one
and two-thirds, and the Semitic form one to eight, compared with the Egyptian : that one
twentieth of the whole is composed of heads in which there exists a trace of Negro and
other exotic lineage: — that the Negroid conformation exists in eight instances, thus
constituting about one thirteenth part of the whole; and, finally, that the series con-
tains a single unmixed Negro.
To these facts I shall briefly add the results of the observations of some authors who
have preceded me in this inquiry. '' I have examined in Paris, and in the various col-
lections of Europe,'^ says Cuvier, ''more than fifty heads of mummies, and not one
amongst them presented the characters of the Negro or Hottentot."*
Two of the three mummy heads figured by Blumenbach, (Decad. Cran., Figs. 1 and 31,)
are unequivocally Egyptian, but the second, as that accurate observer remarks, has some-
thing of the Negro expression.! The third cranium delineated in the same work, (Plate
52,) is also Caucasian, but less evidently Egyptian, and partakes, in Professor Blumen-
bach's opinion, of the Hindoo form. Of the four mummies described by Soemmering,
'Uwo differed in no respect from the European formation; the third had the African
character of along space marked out for the temporal muscle; the characters of the
fourth are not particularized. The skulls of four mummies in the possession of Dr.
Leach, of the British museum, and casts of three others, agree with those just mentioned
in exhibiting a formation not differing from the European, without any trait of the
Negro character."!
The two heads figured in the great French work, are both decidedly Egyptian, but
the second and smaller one is the most strongly marked. ^
Internal Capacity of the Cranium.^ — ^As this measurement gives the size of the brain,
I have obtained it in all the crania above sixteen years of age, unless prevented by firac-
tures or the presence of bitumen within the skull; and this investigation has confirmed
the proverbial fact of the general smallness of the Egyptian head, at least as observed
in the catacombs south of Memphis. Thus, the Pelasgic crania from the latter city, give
an average internal capacity of eighty-nine cubic inches; those of the same group from
Thebes give eighty-six. This result is somewhat below the average of the existing
Caucasian nations of the Pelasgic, Germanic, and Celtic families, in which I find the
brain to be about ninety-three cubic inches in bulk. It is also interesting to observe that
the Pelasgic brain is much larger than the Egyptian, which last gives an average of but
eighty cubic inches; thus, as we shall hereafter see, approximating to that of the Indo-
Arabian nations.
* LawreDce*8 Lectures on Zoology, &c., p. 347. f Decas Quarta, p. 6.
X Lawrence, ut supra, eighth edition, p. 325. { Description de L'Egypte, Antiq. IL, pi. 49, 50.
II In my Crania Americana, p. 283, 1 have described an ingenious method of measuring the internal capacity of the
cranium, devised by my Ariend Mr. John S. Phillips. The material used for filling the skull, as there directed, was
white pepper seed, which was chosen on acount of its spheroidal form, and general uniformity of size. Finding, how-
ever, that considerable variation occurred in successive ftieasurements of the skull, I substituted leaden shot one tenth
of an inch in diameter, in place of the seeds. The skull must be completely JiUed by shaking it while the shot is poured
in at the foramen magnum, into which the finger must be frequently pressed for the same purpose, until the various
sinuosities will receive no more. When this is accomplished, the shot on being transferred to the tube, will give the
absolute capacity of the cranium, or $ize of the brainy in cubic inches.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS.
21
The largest head in the series measures ninety-seven cubic inches; this occurs three
times, and always in the Pelasgic group. The smallest cranium gives but sixty-eight
cubic inches, and this is three times repeated in the Egyptian heads from Thebes. This
last is the smallest brain I have met with in any nation, with three exceptions, — a Hindoo,
a Peruvian, and a Negro.
The Negroid heads, it will be observed, measure, on an average, eighty cubic inches,
which is below the Negro mean; while the solitary Negro head (that of a person advanced
in years,) measures but seventy-three cubic inches.*
As this, however, is a question of much interest and some novelty, it may, perhaps, be
better illustrated in a tabular form : —
Ethnofrsphic Diviiion.
Locality.
No. of
Crania.
Largest
Brain.
Bmallcflt
Brain.
Mau.
Pelasgic Form.
Memphis.
Abydos.
Thebes.
Phil®.
14
1
5
1
97
89
92
74
79
89
82
74
89
89
86
74
V V V V V
Mean, 73. Mean, 79. Mean, 80. Mean, 82. Mean, 88 C. I.
Semitic Form.
Memphis.
Abydos.
Thebes.
1
1
3
88
69
85
88
69
79
88
69
79
Egyptian Form.
Memphis.
Abydos.
Thebes.
Ombos.
Debod.
7
2
25
2
3
83
96
95
77
82
73
85
68
68
70
79 1
90
80
73
75 J
Negroid Form.
Maabdeh.
Thebes.
1
5
71
88
71
71
71
81
Negro.
Philffi.
1
73
73
73
* I have in my poMetrion feventy-nine crania of Negroee born in Africa, for which I am indebted to Doctora Goheen
and McDowell, lately attached to the medical department of the Colony at Liberia, in western Africa; and especially io
Don Joee Rpdrignes Cianeros, M. D., of Harana, in the island of Cuba. Of the whole number, fifty.^ht are adolt, or
sixteen years of age, and upwards, and give eighty-five cubic inches for the average size of the brain. The largest head
measures ninety-nine cubic inches; the smallest but sijrty-flve. The latter, which is that of a middle-aged woman, is the
smallest adult head that has hitherto come under my notice.
22
OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
Facial Angk. — I have carefully measured the facial angle in all those adult skulls
which are sufficiently denuded for that purpose, and have obtained the following re-
sults :—
Ethnoffraphic Division.
No. M«atared.
Largest.
Smallest.
Mean.
Pelasgic form,
Egyptian form,
Semitic form,
Negroid form.
16
20
2
6
83°
83°
77°
77°
73°
76°
74°
73°
80°
78°
76°
75°
It is stated by M. Virey, that the numerous mummies which have been brought to
Europe present the full facial angle of the Caucasian race.
The Structure of the Cranial Bones is as thin and delicate as in the European, and a
ponderous skull is of unfrequent occurrence. I make this remark with the more satis-
fection because it enables me to contest one of the observations of Herodotus; who tells
us, that on visiting the field of battle whereon the Egyptians had fought with the Per-
sians, he saw the bones of the latter lying on one side, and those of their enemies on the
other. He then adds, that '^ the skulls of the former were so extremely soft as to yield
to the slightest impression, even of a pebble; those of the Egyptians, on the contrary,
were so firm that the blow of a large stone would hardly break them." The historian
then explains the reason of this difference, by stating that the Egyptians have thicker
skulls, because their heads are frequently shaved and more exposed to the weather :
while the Persians have soft skulls, owing to the habitual use of caps which protect their
heads from the sun.
These reveries are wholly untenable in a physiological point of view, and derive not
the smallest support from anatomy itself; nor can there be a question that the confiding
historian received his impressions through the ignorance or imposition of others. I have
in my possession eight skulls of Fellahs, or modern Egyptian peasants, who habitually
shave the head, and wear a thin cap; and yet their skulls, which are of various ages
from early youth to senility, are without exception thin and delicate.
Some modem authors have also attributed to the mummy skulls a density which is
not characteristic, but which is adventitiously acquired by the infiltration of bitumen
into the diploic structure during the process of embalming.
Hair, — The hair is fortunately preserved on thirty-six heads, in some instances in
profusion, in others scantily, but always in sufficient quantity to enable us to judge of its
texture. Thirty-one of these examples pertain to the Caucasian series, and in these the
hair is as fine as that of the fairest European nations of the present day. The embalm-
ing process has changed it, with a few exceptions, from a black to a dark-brown colour.
There are also several instances of gray hair, and two in which it is of a true flaxen
colour : it is more than probable, however, that the latter hue has been produced arti-
ficially, — a practice still in use among the Saumaulies south of Adel.
The preceding remarks on the texture of the hair accord with those of other observers.
tmt
L- r
DEBITED FROM ANATOHT, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 23
as well as with the monumental evideaces of every epoch. Belzoni obtained platted
hair from the Theban catacombs eighteen inches in length; and M. Villoteau mentions
another instance, from the same tombs, in which the tresses must have reached to the
waist. Entire wigs of the same character are preserved, as every one knows, in the
British and Berlin museums; and I also possess, through the kindness of Mr. Gliddon,
a portion of a similar relic from Thebes, which is elaborately wrought into a great num-
ber of bng and most delicate tresses.
These facts lead to a few observations on the celebrated passage of Herodotus, who, when
speaking of the Colchians, gives, among other proofs of their Egyptian lineage, that they
"were black, and had short curling hair." Me?jji/yx^^ *^ Qv7~xiete.\.x^s. The above transla-
tion, which is that of the learned Beloe, expresses, in respect to the mode oirvearing the
hair, precisely what is verified by my observations; for in nearly all the Caucasian heads
on which it has been allowed to grow, it is remarkable for a profusion of short curls of
extreme fineness, — a character which is preserved in several of the accompanying deli-
neations.
Herodotus ferther tells us that the Egyptians kept their heads shaved ; or perhaps
he might have said with more precision, closely cut. But while the priests conformed
to this rule, we are certain, from the for^;oing facts, that there was a diversity of usage
among the other classes, which is also proved by another passage in the same historian ;
for he assures us that "you see fewer bald in Egypt than in any other country." Now
if the Egyptians of all classes kept their heads shaved, it would be difficult to ascertain,
and yet more difficult to see whether they were subject to natural baldness or not.
Again, if Herodotus had not been accustomed to observe the Egyptiaus wearing their
hair, how could he have compared them in this respect to the people of Colchis?
The same author informs us that the inhabitants of Egypt permitted their hair to grow
as a badge of mourning; an observation which is every where corroborated in monumen-
tal funereal scenes. This observation, however, was probably for a comparatively short
period, and will not account for the frequent occurrence of long hair among the mummies
of all classes. It is mentioned in history that among other indignities which Cambyses
offered to the embalmed body of King Amasis, was that of tearing the hair from his
head.
The monuments affiird abundant proof that among the Egyp-
tians, from the highest to the lowest castes, it was not unusual
to wear the hair long. The marginal drawing represents a rus-
tic, (one of six on the monument,) who is engaged in a wrestling
match. And it is hardly to be supposed that the profusion of hair
with which his bead is covered, can be any other than the natu-
ral growth.* A man thus occupied would find a difficulty in
keeping a wig on his head.
So also with another from a tomb at Thebes, wherein a car-
penter of pleasing but rather effeminate physic^nomy, is engaged
in the labours of his artf
• RoMllini, M. H. Plate 102, Fig. 47.
t Uvm, U. C. Plare 43, Fig. 40.
24 OBSERVATIOKS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
Another example, that Bubjoined (No. 1,) is derived from a funereal procession at
Thebes;* but granting, what is quite possible, that the woman in this instance, wean
only a head-dress, the contrary can be insisted on in reference to another painting, of a
group of five women engaged in athletic exercises, in the midst of which, one of them
holds and partially sustains the other by her long, straight hair; showing that the latter
could be no other than the natural growth. (No. 3.) It is also interesting to remark, that
this picture dates back into "the night of time,"— that remote period antecedent to the
eighteenth dynasty, of which this is one of the many remains yet preserved in the cele-
brated tomb of Novotptb, at Beni Hassan.t
No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4.
Again, among the funereal processions at Thebes are several boat scenes, from one
of which I derive the above drawing, representing an Egyptian woman in the act of
lamentation, while her hair falls in long and graceful ringlets below her shoulders. (No. 3.)
Another effigy, (No. 4,) that of an Egjrptian lady from a painting in the Theban
catacomb&,t has the hair dressed in the same manner in which it is worn by the modem
Nubian girls, as represented in one of the beautiful sketches by Mr. Wathen in his work
on Egyptian architecture.
These instances have been selected out of hundreds of a similar character which
every where meet the eye on the Nilotic monuments, and which present a most satis-
factory accordance with the evidence derived from the catacombs.
Hamilton, in his .^gyptiaca, when describing the paintings at Elytheias, says that
" the labourers are dressed in a kind of skuU-cap, and have very little if any hair on their
heads; while that of the others who superintend them spreads out at the sides, as with
the Nubians and Berabera above the cataracts," — and yet among these very labourers
the hair of some is represented so long, that it projects beneath the cap and falls upon the
shoulders.^ If I may judge from the heads that have come under my notice, I should
infer that the women, as a general rule at least, allowed their hair to grow; but that the
practice was much less frequent among the men.
In the heads of every Caucasian lyipe in the series now before us, the hair is perfectly
distinct from the woolly texture of the Negro, the frizzled curls of the Mulatto, or the
lank, straight ^ocks of the Mongolian.
Of the eight Negroid heads, four are more or less furnished with hair, one is closely
• RonlliDi, M. C, Plate 1S8, f^. 2. f Idem, Plate 101, E^g. 3. X RowUini, H. C. Plate 127.
( DeecriptioD de L'Egypte, Antiq. T. I. pi. 66. fig. 114. — Hamiltoh, iGgyptiact, p. 66.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONITMENTS. 25
shaved, and two are entirely denuded. In those which retain the hair, it is compara-
tively coarse, and in one instance somewhat wiry. The hair of the solitary Negro head
possesses the characteristic texture.
I find a short beard (perhaps half an inch in length,) on three Theban heads of the
Caucasian part of the series. (Plate IV., Fig. 1, Plate VIII., Fig. 1, and Plate X., Fig. 5.)
The Egyptians habitually shaved the beard ; but on their statues and paintings we fre-
quently see a beard-case which, as Rosellini remarks, appears to be merely emblematical
of the male sex and of manhood.
The Teeth. — Professor Blumenbach, in his Decades Craniorum, long ago pointed out
what he considered a peculiarity in the conformation of the teeth in some Egyptian
mummies; namely, that the crowns of the incisors are very large, thick, and cylindrical,
or obtusely conical, in place of having the characteristic chisel-like form.^ I have given
especial attention to this supposed peculiarity; but although the incisors remain more or
less perfect in forty-five crania, embracing upwards of two hundred teeth of this class, I
have not been able to confirm the preceding observation. On the contrary, there does
not appear to be the smallest deviation from the ordinary form or structure; and I feel
confident, that the learned and accurate Blumenbach was deceived by the worn condition
of the crowns of the teeth, obviously resulting from the habitual mastication of hard sub-
stances. Mr. Lawrence expresses the same opinion, from personal observation: Dr.
Prichard inclines to a similar view of the case, and remarks, that '^ the most satisfactory
method of obtaining information is by inspecting the mummies of children." Here, again,
I have been so fortunate as to examine the crania of three children from one year old to
five years, and five others between the ages of five and ten years. The result is entirely
confirmatory of the opinion I have already advanced, and also coincides with the obser-
vations of Mr. Estlin.f
What the masticated substances were, has not been ascertained; but the teeth of some
Hindoos, even in early life, are as much worn away as those of the Egyptians. The lat-
ter, as a general rule, are remarkably free from decay, and in a number of instances
the whole set remains unbroken. There are various examples in which the teeth appear
to have been extracted ; thus reminding us of the statement of Herodotus, that there
was a class of physicians whose attention, like that of our modern dentists, was bestowed
exclusively upon these organs.
The Nose. — A review of the preceding Anatomical details, and a glance at the accom-
panying delineations, will serve to show that the form of the nose in the Caucasian series
was straight, or slightly aquiline, as in the Hindoo; more prominent, as in the Pelasgic
tribes; and long, salient, and aquiline, as in the Arabian race, and more especially in the
Semitic nations of that stock.
It may be here observed, that the nasal bones have in many instances been more or
less broken in forcing a passage through the ethmoid bone, for the purpose of removing
* *' Denies veg^randes, et incieoruin qnoqne coronas erased cylindricae magis aut obtus^ conicic, qiiam scalpri formes.*'
Decai prima, p. 12. See also Trans. Royal Soc. of London, 1794.
t Prichard, Researches, Vol. TI., p. 250.
7
26 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYFnAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
the brain. This operation, which appears to have been almost uniformly practised at
Thebes, was comparatively unusual at Memphis; for of the twenty-six beads from the
latter necropolis, five only are perforated ; while of the fifty-five Theban crania, all are
perforated but two; and in a third the ethmoid is so little broken that the brain could not
have been removed through the orifice. I moreover detect three instances of complete
perforation of the nose, in which the brain had b^en extracted through the foramen mag-
num, by cutting the neck half across behind; the bandages being folded over the incision.
The absence of the ethmoidal perforation in the oldest heads from Memphis, and in many
others of a later date from the same necropolis, leads me to suppose that the brain may
have been primitively removed through the foramen magnum ; and that its extraction
through the nose, as already suggested, may have been a subsequent refinement of the
embalming art. Again, the different provinces of Egypt may have had peculiar and
conventional details in this as in other usages; for all the heads from Ombos and Maab-
deh have the ethmoidal opening; all those from Abydos and Debod are without it; while
of the four from Philce, one is perforated and three are not.
Denon long ago pointed out a peculiarity of the Egyptian profile, as seen in the re-
markable distance between the nostrils and the teeth. This feature, with a small
receding chin, is of frequent occurrence both in the mummies and on the monuments.
Position of the Ear. — Every one who has paid the least attention to Egyptian art, has
observed the elevated position which is given to the ear; and I have examined my entire
series of heads, in order to ascertain whether this peculiarity has any existence in na-
ture, but I can find nothing in them to confirm it. The bony meatus presents no devia-
tion from the usual relative arrangement of parts; but the cartilaginous structure being
desiccated, and consequently contracted, may not afford satisfactory evidence. Clot Bey
and other authors have remarked an elevation of the ear in some modern Copts ; and
the traveller Raw, quoted by Yirey, notices the same feature in the Hindoos, and it is
said also to exist in degree in the Jews. There may, therefore, be some foundation
for this peculiarity of Egyptian sculpture and painting; but I feel confident that in na-
ture it is nothing more than an upward elongation of the auricular cartilages, without
any modification of the bony meatus. It has also occurred to me that the appearance in
question may be sometimes owing to the remarkable vertical length of the upper jaw in
some heads (those represented Plate IV., Fig. 2, and Plate V., Fig. 2, for example,) in
which it is manifest that the ear would possess a remarkable elevation in respect to the
maxillary bones, without being any nearer to the top of the head than usual. These
hints may possibly afford some clew to a satisfactory explanation of an almost invariable
rule of Egyptian art.
Dr. Prichard (Researches Vol. II., p. 251,) has given an abstract of some observations
made by M. De La Malle, on the mummies contained in the Museum of Turin. " In
the skulls of these [six] mummies, as well as in many others brought from the same
country, although the facial angle was not different from that of European heads, the
meatus auditorius, instead of being situated in the same plane with the basis of the nose,
was found by M. De Malle to be exactly on a level with the centre of the eye"! Unless
M. De Malle is an anatomist, and accustomed to comparisons of this kind, I can imagine
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 27
that he might be deceived by the mere position in which the head was placed for inspec-
tion; for the more the face is drawn downward, the higher will be the relative position
of the ear, until it may be brought on a level either with the nostrils or the eye, at option.
I am the more disposed to oflFer this suggestion because we are told that in the mummies
in question " the facial angle was not different from that of European heads." I need
hardly remark, however, that the higher the external meatus of the ear, the less will be
the facial angle; so that M. De Malle's two observations manifestly contradict each
other.
In the annexed plates the reader will find seventy-four accurate delineations of mum-
mied heads, among which he will search in vain for the alleged peculiarity of the Egyp-
tian ear. It is equally absent in the Pelasgic, Egyptian, Semitic, and Negroid forms :
and yet the Egyptians, on their monuments, bestowed it alike on the people of all nations,
of all epochs, and of every condition in life. See Plate XIV.
Complexion, — On this point our evidence is, perhaps, less conclusive than on most
others connected with Egyptian ethnoffraphy. Yet, meagre as it may seem, we cannot
p«s i. by without a fe» SSarks.
Herodotus, in the passage already cited, (p. 115,) speaks of the colour of the Egyptians
as if it were black; yet this is evidently a relative, and not an absolute term. This re-
mark applies, also, to the hackneyed fable of the two black doves, who are said, in my-
thological language, to have flown from Egypt, and established (at least one of them) the
oracle of Delphi. Here, again, Herodotus supposes that because the doves were black,
they must have represented Egyptian personages. But the Greeks, observes Maurice,
called every thing black that related to Egypt, not excepting the river, the soil, and even
the country itself; whence the name Epf/o;ti;f/to5 — the black country of Hermes.
Again, in reference to the statement of Herodotus, on which I have already, perhaps,
too largely commented, it may be well to give the evidence of another eye-witness, that
of Ptolemy the geographer, who is believed to have been born in Egypt. He wrote in
the second century of our era, and his observations must consequently have been made
something more than five hundred years later than those of Herodotus. His words are as
follow : — " In corresponding situations on our side of the equator, that is to say, under
the tropic of Cancer, men have not the colour of Ethiopians, nor are there elephants and
rhinoceroses. But a little south of this, the northern tropic, the people are moderately
dark^ {yipefia rvyxp^vHOL (jte^veSj) as those, for example, who inhabit the thirty Schffini,
(as far as Wady Haifa, in Nubia,) above Syene. But in the country around Meroe they
are already sufficiently black, and there we first meet with pure Negroes.*^*
Here is ample evidence to prove that the natural geographical position of the Negroes
was the same seventeen centuries since as it is now; and for ages antecedent to Herodo-
tus, the monuments are perfectly conclusive on the same subject. I could, therefore,
much more readily believe that the historian had never been in Egypt at all,t than admit
the literal and unqualified interpretation of his words which has been insisted on by some,
and which would class the Egyptians with the Negro race.
* Ptolemci Geog. Lib. I., cap. ix., as quoted in Edinburgh Review, Vol. LX. p. 312.
f Did any one ever read the Euterpe for the first time without some miFgivings of this kind 1 I ask this question
with a profound respect for the venerable historian and traveller.
r-
28 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
On the monuments the Egyptians represent the men of their nation red, the women
yellow; which leads to the reasonable inference that the common complexion was darkf
in the same sense in which that term is applicable to the Arabs and other southern Cau-
casian nations, and varying, as among the modern Hindoos, from comparatively fair to a
dark and swarthy hue. "Two facts," says Heeren, "are historically demonstrated; one,
that among the Egyptians themselves there was a difference of colour; for individuals
are expressly distinguished from each other by being of a darker or lighter complexion:
the other, that the higher castes of warriors and priests, wherever they are represented
in colours, pertain to the fairer class."
That the Ethiopians proper, or Meroites, were of a dark, and perhaps very dark com-
plexion, is more than probable; and among other facts in support of this view, we find
that the mother of Amunoph III., and wife of Thotmes IV., who was a Meroite princess,
is painted black on the monuments. Thus the different complexion of the great divi-
sions of the Egyptian nation must sometimes have been blended, like their physiognomi-
cal traits, even in the members of the royal family.
It is not, however, to he supposed that the Egyptians were really red men, as they are
represented on the monuments. This colour, with a symbolic signification, was conven-
tionally adopted for the whole nation, (with very rare exceptions,) from Meroe to Mem-
phis. Thus, also, the kings of the Greek and Roman dynasties are painted of the same
complexion.*
Professor Rosellini supposes the Egyptians to have been of a brown, or reddish-broWn
colour, (rosso-fosco,) like the present'inhabitants of Nubia; but, with all deference to that
illustrious archseologist, I conceive that his remark is only applicable to the Austral-
Egyptians as a group, and not to the inhabitants of Egypt proper, except as a partial
result of that mixture of nations to which I have already adverted, and which will be
more fully inquired into hereafter.
The well known observation of Ammianus Marcellinus, "Homines jEgyptii pkrique
suhfusculi sunt, et atrati," is sufficiently descriptive, and corresponds with other positive
evidence, in relation to the great mass of the people; and when the author subsequently
tells us that the Egyptians " blush and grow red," we find it difficult to associate these
ideas with a black, or any approximation to a black skin.f
The late Doctor Young, in his Hieroglyphical Literature, has given a translation of a
deed on papyrus of the reign of Ptolemy Alexander I., in which the parties to a sale of
* It is a curious fact obsenred by Rosellini and others, that the Greeks painted some of their divinities red, as Jupiter
and Pan; and even Venus herself appears to have been sometimes represented of the same colour. Monumenti Civili^
IL, p. 109.^
f ** By saying that the Egyptians, for the mo$t part, are of a brownish or somewhat brown colour, and of a tanned
and blackened hue, the writer shows that this was not the case equally, at least, with all of them ; and the expression
subftuculi and atrati are very different from nigri or atri.*^ — Prichard, Researches, II., p. 232.
« Tra le specie d'uomini non affatto neri di pelle, e di fattezze diversi da quelH che noi siam soliti chiamare Africani,
furono gli antichi Egizi : e quando Erodoto afferma che i Colchi erano una colonia d'Egitto, perche dessi pure avevano
nero colore, non vuolsi gi^ intende rigorosamente di quel colore, che proprio d dei Ncri ; ma tale ci lo chiama per rispetto
al colore dei fiianchi e dei Greci stessi ; e perch^ veramente Tincarnato degii Egiziani al nero in qualche modo si avvici-
nava. Noi lo diremmo con p\^ giustezza color fosco ; e questo epiteto diedero anche i Latini agli abitanti dell *Egitto,
come si legge in Properzio: *< An tibi non satis eatfuscU Egyptus alumnisl*' — Rosellini, Mon. Civ., II., p. 167.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 29
land at Thebes are described in the following terms: — "Psammonthes, aged about 45,
of middle size, dark complexion and handsome figure, bald, round-faced and straight-
nosed; Snachomneus, aged about 20, of middle size, sallow complexion, round-faced and
straight-nosed; Semmuthis Persinei, aged about 22, of middle size, sallow complexion,
round-faced, flat-nosed, and of quiet demeanour; and Tatblyt Persinei, aged about 30, of
middle size, sallow complexion, round face and straight nose, the four being children of
Petepsais of the leather-dressers of the Memnonia; and Necheutes . the less, the son of
Azos, aged about 40, of middle size, sallow complexion, cheerful countenance, long face
and straight nose, with a scar upon the middle of the forehead." In another deed of the
same epoch, also translated by Dr. Young, an Egyptian named Anophris is described as
"tall, of a sallow complexion, hollow-eyed and bald."
Independently of the value of the other physical characters preserved in these docu-
ments, the remarks on complexion have a peculiar interest; for they show that among
six individuals of three different families, one only had a dark complexion, and that all
the rest were sallow.
From the preceding facts, and many others which might be adduced, I think we may
safely conclude, that the complexion of the Egyptians did not differ from that of the
other Caucasian nations in the same latitudes. That while the higher classes, who were
screened from the action of a burning sun, were fair in the comparative sense, the middle
and lower classes, like the modem Berbers, Arabs, and Moors, presented various shades
of complexion, even to a dark and swarthy tint, which the Greeks regarded as black in
comparison with their own. To these diversities must also be added others incident to
a vast servile population, derived from all the adjacent nations, among which the sable
Negro stood forth in bold and contrasted characters.
Dr. Wiseman, after a critical examination of the evidence in reference to this mooted
question, has arrived at the following philosophical conclusion : — '^ It is not easy to recon-
cile the conflicting results thus obtained from writers and from monuments; and it is no
wonder that learned men should have differed widely in opinion on the subject. I should
think the best solution is, that Egypt was the country where the Greeks most easily
saw the inhabitants of interior Africa, (the Negroes,) many of whom, doubtless, flock^
thither and were settled there, or served in the army as tributaries or provincials, as they
have done in later times ; and thus they came to he confounded hy writers with the country
where alone they knew theniy and were considered part of the indigenous population^*
External Configuration. — On this subject I have nothing to add but the following
external measurements,! (taken with my own hands,) derived from each group, and
embracing all the denuded adult crania excepting two of the Semitic form.
* Lectares on the connezion between Science and Revealed Religion, p. 102, 2d edit.
. These remarks will also serve to explain why Aristotle has placed the Egyptians and Negroes in the same national
category; which is not more surprising than his referring the Thracians to the Mongotian race, and attributing to them a
red complexion.
f The hmgiiudinal dutmeter is measured from the most prominent part of the os frontis, between the superciliary
ridges, to the extreme end of the occiput
The perieM dimneier is measured between the most distant points of the parietal bones, which are, for the most part,
the protuberances of these bones.
8
30
OBSERVATIONS ON EOTPTIAN ETHNOORAPHY,
Table I. Pdasgic Group.
No. in
PlatJi
Longltad.
FarieUl
Frontal
Vertical
Inter-
Inter-
in astoid
Oceipito.
Frontal
liorizontal
Cat.
856
* IBICa
Dianwtcr.
Diameter.
5.6
Diameter.
Diameter.
Arch.
Line.
Atcb.
Peripliery.
Thebes, •
IX.
7.5
4.5
5.2
16.1
4.2
16.6
21.
Thebes,
859
VI., 5.
7.1
5.1
4.3
5.3
14.1
4.1
14.6
20.
Thebes,
860
VI.,
,4.
7.4
5.3
4.3
5.4
15.
4.3
15.3
20.5
Thebes,
893
VI.,
,3.
7.2
5.4
4.4
5.3
14.6
4.1
14.7
20.3
Abydos,
817
v.,
3.
7.1
5.7
4.5
5.4
15.6
3.9
16.3
20.5
Memphis,
803
III.,
,8.
7.5
5.6
4.3
5.
14.8
4.
14.9
20.8
Memphis,
808
II.,
. 1.
7.4
5.7
4.8
5.1
15.
4.
14.9
21.
Memphis,
816
III.,
, 5.
7.4
5.1
4.3
5.5
15.
4.
15.1
20.6
Memphis,
802
III.,
,7.
6.8
5.2
4.3
6.4
13.9
4.2
14.
19.
Memphis,
812
II.,
,3.
6.8
5.5
4.5
4.8
13.6
4.
14.1
19.9
Memphis,
815
II.
i
,2.
7.
5.2
4.1
6.4
14.6
3.9
15.
19.9
Memphis,
799
III.
.4.
7.2
5.7
4.2
6.
14.9
3.7
14.8
20.4
Memphis,
814
II.
,5.
7.3
5.8
4.6
52
15.4
4.3
15.6
20.8
Memphis,
805
II.
,7.
7.4
5.
3.9
5.3
14.4
3.9
16.
19.8
Memphis,
838
I.,
, 1.
7.5
5.5
4.4
6.5
14.7
4.
16.
20.7
Memphis,
837
I.,
,2.
7.8
5.7
4.6
5.7
15.
4.1
16.6
21.2
Memphis,
798
III.,
,6.
6.9
5.5
4.4
6.1
14.2
4.1
14.6
19.5
Memphis,
825
III.
,9.
7.5
5.7
4.3
5.3
15.
4.2
16.
20.7
Memphis,
840
II.,
,9.
7.3
5.4
4.6
5.2
14.8
4.1
16.
20.6
Phil®,
Highest ii
821
t the
XII.,
series.
,6.
6.9
5.2
4.4
4.9
14.
4.
14.
19.5
7.8
5.8
4.8
5.7
16.6
4.3
15.6
21.2
Mean,
7.25
5.44
4.38
5.26
14.6
4.06
14.85
20.33
Lowest in
the {
series,
6.8
5.1
3.9
4.8
13.6
3.7
14.
19.
The /ronfaZ diameter is taken between the anterior inferior anglee of the parietal bones.
The vertical diameter is measured firom the fbssa between the condyles of the occipital bone, to the top of the skull.
The tnier^moBtiM arch is measured, with a graduated tape, from the point of one mastoid process to the other, over
the external table of the skull.
The tnter'tnoitoid line is the distance, in a straight line, between the points of the mastoid processes.
The ocdpito-frontal arch is measured by a tape over the surfiice of the cranium, from the posterior margin of the fora-
men magnum to the suture which connects the os frontis with the bones of the nose.
The horizontal periphery is measured by passing a tape around the cranium so as to touch the os frontis immediately
above the superciliary ridges, and the most prominent part of the occipital bone.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS.
31
Tabk 11. Egyptian Group.
i
1
1
No. in
CaU
857
Plat*.
LoBgitttd.
DIaaMttr.
Parietal
DlauMter.
Fronul
Diameter.
Vertical
DiUDMer.
Inter-
DMItoid
Arch.
Inter-
■naitoid
Line.
Occipito-
Fiontal
Arch.
Horisontal
Feri|»b0ry.
i Thebes,
VIT., 3.
7.
6.
4.
6.3
14.6
3.8
14.9
19.6
Thebes,
849
7.1
6.6
4.4
6.2
14.8
3.9
14.6
20.1
! Thebes,
860
VI., 1.
7.
5.4
4.4
5.3
14.7
4.
14.2
20.
Thebes,
848
VII., 4.
7.1
6.2
4.1
5.
14.2
3.7
15.
20.
Thebes,
847
VIL, 6.
6.8
4.8
3.9
5.
13.5
4.
13.9
18.8
, Thebes,
861
VII., 1.
7.
5.3
4.5
6.
14.
4.
14.
19.7
Thebes,
863
7.5
6.6
4.3
5.
16.6
4.1
15.
20.7
Abydos,
820
v., 2.
7.5
5.5
4.
5.5
16.2
3.9
16.7
20.9
Abydos,
819
v., 1.
7.3
6.3
4.
6.
14.6
4.
14.6
19.8
Memphis,
806
II., 4.
6.6
69
4.
4.8
14.6
4.2
136
19.7
Memphis,
811
III., 1.
6.9
5.6
4.
4.8
14.6
3.7
14.4
19.5
Memphis,
809
III., 2.
7.3
5.3
4.2
4.9
14.3
3.9
14.5
20.6
Memphis,
795
7.
6.3
4.1
6.1
14.9
3.9
14.4
19.5
Memphis,
796
6.7
6.4
4.3
4.8
14.3
3.9
13.9
19.6
Memphis,
797
6.8
5.2
4.4
6.1
14.5
4.
14.2
19.4
Debod,
827
XII., 9.
7.3
5.2
4.6
4.9
13.7
4.2
14.9
20.5
Debod,
826
XIII.
7.
6.1?
4.
5.4
14.
4.
14.5
19.
Debod,
829
XII., 8.
7.
5.1
4.3
6.
13.7
3.6
13.7
19.5
Thebes,
867
VIII., 8.
7.8
5.4
4.3
6.5
16.
4.3
16.6
21.4
Thebes,
861
VII., 2.
7.3
6.3
4.4
5.6
14.7
4.2
15.2
20.3
Memphis,
810
II., 6.
7.2
6.6
4.4
6.2
14.7
3.8
16.2
20.7
Thebes,
889
VI., 7.
7.6
6.2
4.4
6.8
14.4
4.3
15.2
20.5
Ombos,
Highest in
832
L the
XII., 6.
series,
7.4
7.8
6.4
4.6
4.6
6.
16.
4.2
14.0
20.5
5.9
6.8
15.6
4.3
15.7
21.4
Mean,
7.16
5.32
4.21
5.14
14.5
4.
14.6
20.1
Lowest in
the f
Mines,
6.6
4.S
3.9
4.8
13.5
3.6
13.6
18.8
Tabk III. Negroid Group.
No
Page or Plate.
Lonfitadinal
Farieul Di-
Frontal Dia-
Vertical Dia-
Inter*maitoid
Inter-ma itold
OcdpUo-
Frontal Arch.
Uorizonui
In Cat
864
Diameter.
ameter.
meter.
meter.
Arch.
Line.
Periphery.
Thebes,
Page 17,
7.
5.1
4.2
5.4
14.4
3.3
14.6
19.6
Thebes,
886
i* U
7.
6.5
4.5
Al
14.4
3.5
14.8
19.7
Thebes,
858
(t l<
7.4
5.3
4.5
5.
14.6
4.4
14.6
20.6
Thebes,
852
it il
7.2
5.1
4.4
6.2
14.
4.3
14.3
19.6
Thebes,
869
ii U
7.4
6.4
4.1
6.6
13.9
4.3
15.5
20.
Maabdeh,
834
IV., 2
6.4
5.5
4.2
6.1
13.8
4.
13.8
18.7
Mean,
7.05
6.3
4.3
6.2
14.2
4.
14.6
19.6
These measurements, it mast be confessed, possess merely an isolated interest until
they can be compared with those derived from the other races of men.* Meanwhile I
* I have been engaged for several years past in obtaining and arranging a series of measurements of the nature here
indicated, under the title of Craniometrical Tables ; but it will be readily conceived that the difficulty of procuring the
requisite materials, renders the progress of such an undertaking extremely slow and uncertain.
82
OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETUNOGRAFHYi
give them as I find them, and in the hope of being able to institute the desired compa-
risons on some future occasion.
Stature. — Mr. Pettigrew's measurements seem to prove, what the size of the head also
indicates, that the Egyptians were of the middle stature. He met with no instance
which, even enveloped in its bands^es, would measure more than five feet six inches.
Perhaps, however, sufficient allowance has not been made for the contraction of the
joints, and especially of the intervertebral substance, which in a state of complete desic-
cation, would diminish the length of the body at least two inches. In the year 1833, 1
purchased of the heirs of the late Senior Lebolo, a dilapidated mummy from Thebes, of
which I prepared the skeleton, now preserved in the Anatomical Museum of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. It measures about five feet ten inches, and is in every respect
beautifully developed excepting the cranium, which is small in proportion and of
indifferent conformation.^
Age. — ^It is a familiar fact that the mummies of children are rarely found in the Egyp-
tian catacombs, at least in comparison with those of adults; a circumstance which has
not been satisfactorily explained.
Champollion Figeac observes that the Egyptians were a long-lived people, as proved
by their funereal inscriptions which frequently speak of the dead as having passed the
age of fourscore years; a remark which derives some confirmation from the following
table, wherein the crania in my possession are proximately classed according to their
respective s^es: —
From one year old to five,
3
From five to ten, ....
6
From ten to fifteen,
4
From fifteen to twenty,
9
From twenty to thirty, .
27
From thirty to forty, ....
26
From forty to fifty.
18
From fifty to sixty, ....
2
From sixty to seventy, .
2
From seventy to eighty,
3
From eighty to ninety, . * .
2
100
Having thus identified, in the catacombs, the remains of the various people who con-
stituted the Nilotic family, we proceed in the next place to trace them on the monu-
ments of Egypt and Nubia; and as the value of this comparison must depend on the
fidelity of the artists who have copied the paintings and bas-reliefs, we shall derive the
following illustrations, with one or two exceptions, from the admirable works of Cham-
pollion, Rosellini, and Hoskins.
* I have reason to believe that this craniam, which I obtained separate from the rest of the mummy, belonged to
another Egyptian skeleton subsequently procured firom the same source.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS.
33
1. THE EGYPTIANS.
The monuments from Meroe to Memphis, present a pervading type of physiognomy
which is every where distinguished at a glance from the varied forms which not unfre-
quently attend it, and which possesses so much nationality both in outline and expression,
as to give it the highest importance in Nilotic ethnography. We may repeat that it con-
sists in an upward elongation of the head, with a receding forehead, delicate features, but
rather sharp and prominent face, in which a long and straight or gently aquiline nose
forms a principal feature. The eye is sometimes oblique, the chin short and retracted,
the lips rather tumid, and the hair whenever it is represented, long and flowing.
This style of features pertains to every class, kings, priests, and people, and can be
readily traced through every period of monumental decoration, from the early Pharaohs
down to the Greek and Roman dynasties. Among the most ancient and at the same
time most t^haracteristic examples, are the heads of Amunoph the Second, and his mother,
as represented in a tomb at Thebes,^ which dates, in Rosellini's chronology, seventeen
hundred and twenty-seven years before our era. In these effigies all the features are
strictly Egyptian, and how strikingly do they correspond with those of many of the em-
balmed heads from the Theban catacombs!
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
A similar physiognomy preponderates among the royal Egyptian personages of every
epoch, as will be manifest to any one who will turn over the pages of Champollion and
Rosellini. The head of Horus (Plate XIV., Fig. 2,) is an admirable illustration, while
in the portraits of Rameses IV., and Rameses IX., (Plate XIV., Fig. 6 and 7,) the same
lines are apparent, though much less strongly marked. How admirably also are they
seen in the subjoined juvenile head, (Fig. 1,) which is that of a royal prince, copied from
the very ancient paintings in the tomb of Pehrai, at Eletheias.t So also in the face of
Rameses VII., (Fig. 2,) who lived perhaps one thousand years later in time.
* Champollion, Monumeoa de TEgypte, Tom. IL, plate ISO^ fig. 8.
9
t RoMllini, M. C, plate CXXXfll., fig. 3.
OBSERVATIONS ON EOTPTUN ETHNOGRAPUV,
I observe that the priests almost invariably present this physiognomj, and in accord-
ance with the usage of their cast, have the head closely shaven. When coloured they
are red, like the other Egyptians. The subjoived drawiog, (No. 1,) which is somewhat
harsh in outline, is from the portico of one of the pyramids of Meroe,* and is probably
one of the oldest human effigies in Nubia. They abound tn all the temples of that
country, and especially at Semneh, Dakkeh, Soleb, Gebel-Berkel, and Messoura.i-
From the numberless examples of similar conformation, I select another of a priest
from the bas-relief at Thebes, whtoh is remarkable for delicacy of outline and pleasing
serenity of exptession.J (No. 2.)
So invariably are these characters allotted to the sacerdotal caste, that we readily
detect them in the two priests who, by some unexplained contingency, become kings in
the twentieth dynasty. Their names read Amensi-Hrai-Pehor and Pbisham on the
monuments; and the accompanying outline is a fac-eimile of Rosellini's portrait of the
latter personage, who lived about eleven hundred years before the Christian era.^ In
this head the Egyptian and Pelasgic characters appear to be blended, but the former
preponderate. (No. 3.)
The last outline, (No. 4,} represents a modification of the same type, that of the
Harp^ in Bruce's tomb at Thebes. The beautiful form of the head and the intellectual
character of the &ce, may be compared with similar efforts of Grecian art. It dates
with Kameses tiie IV.Il
* Hoikina* TnTeli in Ethiopia, plate XI.
t CailliMid, plate XVI. to XX. For the use of the only copy of this voA now in the United State*, I
to the politanesa of Colonel Pleaaanton, of Ihia city.
t Roaellini, Uonmnonti, M. C, plate CXXXUI. } Cfaampollion, f^g4ac, Egypte Ancieone, p. S66.
I BoKlUni, H, C.>plUe XCVU., tai WUkiuon'* Topography of Thebe«, p. 109.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, BISTORT, AND THE MONUMENTS.
36
As I believe this to be a most important ethnographic iDdicatioD, aod one which points
to the vast body of the Egyptian people, I subjoin four additional heads of priests from a
tomb at Thebes, of the eighteenth dynasty. We are forcibly impressed with the delicate
features and oblique eye of the left hand personage, and with the ruder but characteristic
outline of the other figures, in which the prominent faoe, though strongly drawn, is
essentially Egyptian.*
The annexed outlines, which present more pleasing examples
of the same ethnographic character, are copied from the tomb
of Titi, at Thebes, and date with the remote era of Thotraes
IV.f Thoy represent five fowlers in the act of drawing their
net over a flock of birds. The long, flowing hair is in keeping
with the facial traits, which latter are also well characterized in
the subjoined drawings, derived from monuments of different
epochs and localities.
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1, is the head of a weaver, from the paintings in the very ancient tomb of Rott
and Menoph at Beni-Hassan, wherein the same cast of countenance is reiterated without
number, it
Fig. 2, a Tvine-presser, is also from Beni-Hassan, and dates with Osortasen, more than
2000 years before the Christian era.§
Fig. 3, is a cook, who in the tomb 6S Rameses the Fourth, at Thebes, is represented
with many others in the active duties of his vocation. ||
Fig. 4. I have selected this head as an exaggerated or caricatured illustration of the
same type of physiognomy. It is one of the goat-herds painted in the tomb of Roti, at
Beni-Hassan. TT
■* Roaellini, M. C. Piste 126.
{ Idem. H, C. Plate 97.
f Idem. Vol. 1, PUto 4.
I Idem. M. C. Plate 80.
X Idem. M. C. Plate 41.
1[ Idem. M. C. Plate 29.
86 , OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTUN ETHNOGHAPHY,
The' 'most recent of these last four venerable monuments of art, dates at least 1450
years before our era : the oldest belongs to uncbronicled times; and the same physical
characters are oommon on the Nubian and Egyptian monuments down to the Ptolemaic
and Roman epochs.
The peculiar head-dress of the Egyptians often greatly modifies and in some degree
conceals their characteristic features; and may at first sight lead to the impression that
the priests possessed a physiognomy of a distinct or peculiar kind. Such, however, was
not the case, as a little observation will prove. Take, for example, the four following^
drawings from a Theban tomb, in which two mourners have head-dresses and two
priests are without them. Are not the national characteristics unequivocally manifest
in them all?*
^^^^^ In addition to the copious remarks already made in re-
y^^^^^k ference to the hair, we cannot omit the annexed picture
/, ^^^^H f^"^ ^ *<>'"^ i" Thebes, which represents an Egyptian wo-
V J^^^H man in the act of lamentation before the embalmed body
^^_^- — O^^^H of & relative, while the long, black hair reaches even below
^^^^H the waist t
") ^^^^^H It is thus that we trace this peculiar style of countenance
v^^^^^H in its several modifications through epochs and in localities
j^^^^^^^ the most remote from each other, and in every class of the
^^^^^^H Egyptian people. How different from the Pelasgic type,
HMw^N^I yet how obviously Caucasian ! How varied in outline, yet
Ifv TV iiow readily identified! And if we compare these features
/ /ff with those of the Egyptian series of embalmed heads, are
we not forcibly impressed with a striking analogy not only in osteological conformation,
but also in the very expression of the face? Compare, for example, the head on page 109.
Observe, also, the six figured skulls, Plate VII; Plate XII., Fig. 4; Plate X., Fig. 4;
Plate VIII., Fig. 9, and the numerous accompanying illustrations, and no one, I ocm-
ceive, will question the analogy I have pointed out This type is certainly wxlionai,
and presents to our view the genuine Egyptian physiognomy, which, in the Ethnographic
* RoMflini, U. C. Hate ISS, Fig. 1.
t Idem. Piste 137, Fig. 1.
DERIVED PROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 37
scale, is intermediate between the Pelasgic and Semitic forms. We may add, that this
conformation is the same which Prof. Blumenbach refers to the Hindoo variety in his
triple classification of the Egyptian people.* And this leads us briefly to inquire, who
were the Egyptians?
It is in the sacred writings only that we find any authentic records of the primeval
migrations of our species. " In the general allotment of territories to the offspring of
Noah," observes Mr. Gliddon, " Egypt, by the concurrent testimony of all Biblical com-
mentators, was assigned to Mizraim, the son of Ham, as a domain and for an inheritance;"
whence Egypt has, from the remotest times, been called by the names of Mizraim and
Ham, or Kheme. Mr. Gliddon adds, that '* although the name of Mizraim has not yet
been found in hieroglyphic legends, there is abundant scriptural evidence to prove that
the country was called Mizraim and Mitzar by the Jews; while at the present day
throughout the east, Egypt and Cairo are universally known by the cognate appellation
of Muss'r:'^
Entering Africa by the Isthmus of Suez,]: the children of Ham were ushered into the
fertile valley of the Nile, a region prepared by nature for settled communities and a
primeval civilization. In a country bounded by the Red Sea on the one side, and by a
wilderness on the other, and presenting but a narrow strip of land for its inhabitants,
laws would at once become necessary for mutual protection; and we may suppose that
while one portion of the Mizraimites embraced these social restrictions, another, impatient
of control, passed beyond the desert barrier on the west, and spreading themselves over
the north of Africa, became those nomadic tribes to which the earliest annals give the
name of Libyans.^ It follows from this view of the question, that we suppose the
Egyptians and Libyans to have been cognate people ; that the former were the abori-
ginal || inhabitants of the valley of the Nile; and that their institutions, however modified
by intrusive nations in after times, were the oflfspring of their own minds.
It will, however, be very naturally objected that among the Egyptians no gradations
are apparent between barbarism and refinement. '^ It is a remarkable fact," says Sir 6.
Wilkinson, ''that the first glimpse we obtain of the history and manners of the Egyptians,
shows a nation already advanced in the arts of civilized life ; and the same customs and
inventions that, prevailed in the Augustan era of that people, after the accession of the
eighteenth dynasty, are found in the remote age of Osortasen, the contemporary of
* Trans. Royal Society of London, 1794, passim, and Plate 16, Fig. 2, of that woric.
t Ancient Egypt, p. 46, 47.
} The learned Dr. Beke reverses the route, and supposes that the **Cashite descendants of Ham " first settled on the
western side of the Arabian Peninsuls, crossed thence into Ethiopia, and descending the Nile, became the Egyptians of
after times. — Ori^pnes Biblicae, 1, p. 162.
{I use the terms Libyan and Ethiopian as they are handed down to us from antiquity. ** Speaking with all the pre*
cision I am able," says Herodotus, ** the country I have been describing is inhabited 1^ four nations only; of these two
are natives and two are strangers. The natives are the Libyans (^Cvu) and the Ethiopians, (AiOitrtc); one of which hi
possesses the northern, the other the southern parts of AfHca. The strangers are the Phenicians and the Greeks.'*-—
Melpomene, 197. In the days of Herodotus nomad Libyans still inhabited the vicinity of Avaris.
II I use the word aboriginal in this place with some reservation. It has been supposed by learned authorities that AlHca
was peopled by Negroes before the Hamitic tribes entered that country. I do not suppose Ham to have been the pro-
genitor of the Negro race; and, with Dr. Wiseman, Mr. Lawrence and many others, I regard as a "conjecture" in Sci-
ence, that doctrine which would attribute the physical gradations between the white man and the Negro to any other
natural process than that of direct amalgamation. — ^Lawrence, Lectures on Zoology, 8th edit. p. 264. Wiseman, Lec-
tures, 2d edit. p. 156. Beke, Origines Biblice, Tom. I., p. 162.
10
/
38 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
Joseph." How then could a branch of the Libyan race, a people so comparatively
obscure, have become the mighty Egyptian nation? How could families of mankind so
widely diflferent in their intellectual manifestations, have been derived from a cognate
stock? To which we reply, that the Egyptians and Libyans were not in this respect
more widely separated than were the Saracens under the Caliphs, and the wandering
Bedouins; yet, both these were branches of the Arabian race. Egypt may perhaps be
regarded as the intellectual centre of the posterity of Ham.
The evidences of these opinions, it must be confessed, are as yet few in number.
That the Libyan or Berber speech was once the language of all northern Africa has long
been maintained by Ritter, Heeren and Shaler, and by Mr. Hodgson in his very inte-
resting Letters from Algiers, during the period in which he held the United States con-
sulate in that regency.* Prof. Ritter (whose work I have not seen) asserts that the Ama-
zirgh, or Berber language, as detected by certain prefixes and affixes peculiar to it and
the Coptic tongue, is to be found across the whole breadth of the continent, from the Red
Sea to the Canary Isles; and he supposes, too^ that the Hazorta tribes, like the old Bejas
and modern Bishareens, were originally of the same parent stock. To these evidences
we may add those of Prof. Vater, who traced some aiffinity between the Berber and the
Coptic and Amharic, but not sufficient to lead to satisfactory results.
I have before me an obliging communication from Mr. Hodgson, in which he informs
me, that he also discovered what he believed to be incontrovertible evidence of the
Berber origin of the Bishareen languagCi, before he had read the work of Prof. Ritter;
and in an essay just published on the Foulahs of central Africa, he reiterates the opinion
early expressed by him, that the Berber or Libyan tongue was spoken in the valley of
the Nile, prior to the existence of the Coptic or monumental language; a theory which,
he further remarks, is in accordance with the nature of things and the probable course
of events,
"Whilst the positive records of modern history," observes Mr. Hodgson, "show that
the Coptic tongue has been obliterated from the map of Egypt within the short period
which has elapsed since the Saracenic invasion, need we wonder that so few traces re-
main of the langus^e of that country in primeval and unrecorded times? These vestiges,
however, have been detected by me, and, I think, with a strong degree of probability, in
the mythologic and geographical names transmitted to us from the earliest periods of
Egyptian history. The meaning of Ammon, Thebes, Themis, and Nile, and of Helio-
polis (Tadij) and Apollinopolis (Etfu) have been explained from the modern Berber lan-
guage; and the very name of HykshoSf who were called shepherds, means also shepherds
in Berber, f
" These etymologies serve, at least, as tokens of the existence of the Libyans in the
%
* These Letters, which are addressed to Peter S. Duponceau, Esq., are contained in the fourth volume of the Transac-
tions of this Society; and to this source the reader is referred for a mass of interesting details which is necessarily ez-
clnded in this place. The valuable communications of Mr. Shaler, also addressed to Mr. Duponceau, are published in
the second volume of the same work.
t ''The phrase a $hepherd fed his flock, is thus rendered in that language: — amiksa iksa thikhn. These words,
moreover, constitute a beautifbl illustration of the genius of the language. In amiksa we have the formative particle
mm; and in thikksi there is the feminine prefix th, a peculiarity alike of the Berber and the Coptic. The prefixes and
iof&xes f, th, are Berber indications throughout the whole extent of north Africa," Vide also Homemann, Voyage*
Vocab, p. 431,
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 39
valley of the Nile, at a period anterior to that of the monumental Egyptians. I have,
also, found grammatical affinities between the Coptic and the Berber, which suggest that
the monosyllabic elements of the former have been imposed upon the Berber syntax, and,
therefore, that the Coptic is posterior in nationality to the Berber."
Leaving this important and difficult philological inquiry to the abler hands of Mr.
Hodgson, (for it involves some points on which I am not qualified to judge, and therefore
offer no opinion,) we may merely remark, that the Berber theory is farther countenanced
by various mythological considerations, among the most remarkable of which is the
supposed Libyan origin of several Egyptian divinities.
Particular communities of the Libyans are familiar in history by the names of Mauri-
tanians, Numidians and Getuli. Respecting the physical characteristics of these people,
history is nearly silent; yet there is sufficient evidence to prove, that they possessed those
features which are now called Caucasian, independently of any modifications that may
have resulted from their long intercourse with Phenician colonies, and the Romans, Arabs
and Vandals in later periods of time. The Libyans were a nomadic and warlike people;
they were habitually employed in the Carthagenian armies, and in the earlier ages con-
tended with the Egyptians themselves; for we learn from a passage in Manetho, (Cory,
Frag. p. 100,) that in the remote age of Necherophes, of the third dynasty, the Libyans
revolted from the Egyptians, but were soon again subdued. The monuments record
similar triumphs in the reigns of Osortasen 1st., Thotmes 1st., Rameses the 3d, and indeed
in almost every dynasty down to the Ptolemaic epoch, when Libya continued to be
an Egyptian province. In fact, the Libyans hung upon the skirts of Egypt as the Goths
did upon Rome; and until the researches of the hierologists identified the Hykshos or
shepherd kings with an Asiatic people,, there was strong presumptive evidence that these
ruthless invaders were, at least in part, no other than the Libyans themselves.^
The Libyans are represented in our day by the various and motley Berber tril)es, who
under the names of Tuaricks, Kabyles and Siwahs, inhabit both north and south of Mt.
Atlas; and in their physical characters combine the Caucasian physiognomy with various
shades of complexion, from a fair skin to a dark and tawny hue.
" The Kabyles," says Mr. Shaler, " are a white people, of middle stature, muscular,
athletic and active, but never corpulent; and are of lively, social manners and of inge-
nious dispositions. Many of them are of light complexions, with hair approaching to
flaxen, resembling rather the peasants of the south of Europe than the inhabitants of
Africa."t Then come the darker Tuaricks, men of fine mould and adventurous spirit,
but nomadic, unfeeling and vindictive.
Dr. Oudney, who saw them in great number, describes them in nearly similar terms,
but assures us that under favourable circumstances their good, sound sense, would soon
render them ''a shining people." It is curious, also, to note the following remark of the
same intelligent traveller: ''On almost every stone, in places they frequent^ the Tuarick
characters are hewn out. It matters not whether the letters are written from right to
* In Jeremiah Gush and Phut are names of AfHcan nations; while in hieroglyphics Libya is called NephaUitf the
''country of the nine bows." The root of Nephaiat being Phut (in Coptic a bow) connects the Libyans with Phut, the son
of Ham, (Gen. x. 6,) and confirms the affiliation of the Libyans and Egyptians. See Gliddon, Anc. Egypt, p. 25, 27, 41.
t Sketches of Algiers, p. 91. Capt. Lyon's observations are to the same purpose. Trav, p. 109. — Denham and
Clapperton, p. 73.
V
40 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOORAPHT,
left, or vice versa^ or horizontally/' a singular accordance with the graphical sjrstem of
the ancient Egyptians.^ It would therefore appear, that these roving descendants of the
Libyan race possess, even now, some vestiges of that innate love of sculpture which was
cultivated on so grand a scale by the temple-builders of the Nile.
Yet farther south are the darker Berber tribes called Siwahs or Shouas, who are said
by Major Denham to have ''free open countenances, with aquiline noses and large eyes;
their complexion is a light copper colour. They possess great cunning with their cou-
rage, and resemble, in appearance, some of the best favoured Gypsies in England."
Dark as they are, he remarks that ''in comparison with the Negresses they are almost
white." They are vastly numerous throughout all Soudan, Houssa and Bornou, and the
Sultan of the latter country has no less than 15,000 of them in his army.f
In other instances, although they are few in comparison, the Berbers assimilate more
to the Negro on account of the proximity of the two races; a remark which is especially
made by Dr. Oudney in reference to the Tuaricks of Mourzouk, who have black and
curling hair, but which, " from a Negro mixture, is inclined to be crispy." |
Here then are the various gradations of the Caucasian type which appear to have
marked the ancient Egyptians, together with a degree of that intermixture of the Negro
race which is revealed in the catacombs, and perpetuated in the modem Coptic popula-
tion.
In connexion with this subject, it is curious to remark that the Guanches of the Ca-
nary Islands were a branch of the Berber or Libyan stock ; and the singular perfection to
which they brought the art of embalming, long since led to the supposition that they
might have been affiliated with the Egyptians. The only Berber skull in my possession
is of this insular branch of that race, and like the one figured by Professor Blumenbach,
bears a striking resemblance to the Egyptian conformation.^
The Ethiopians. — Every one who has paid the slightest attention to the present in-
quiry, is aware of the entire vagueness of the name Ethiopia (Cush) as used by the
ancients; which, like India in modern times, was applied to countries very remote from
each other, and whose inhabitants were remarkably dissimilar. Thus Austral-Egyptians,
Hindoos, Arabs, and Negroes, and even the Egyptians themselves, have each in turn
been embraced in this designation.
Our present inquiry, however, relates to that people who occupied the valley of the
Nile, from Phil® to Meroe, and perhaps yet farther south; a region at the present time
inhabited by the Nubians, Senaareo and the Abyssinians, with all those endless varieties
of race which necessarily result from immemorial proximity to the Negro countries. It
is a point of great interest and importance to ascertain the physical characteristics of the
aboriginal communities of this branch of the Nilotic family; but they become at an early
** Denham and Clapperton, Introd. p. 67. To give some idea of the number of the Tuaricks, these gentlemen mention
that no less than two thousand were executed at Sackatoo, in Houssa, on a single occasion, for a predatory irruption
into the territories of the Negro sultan of that country.— Jotimey fnnn Kano to Sackatoot p. 107.
t Ibid. p. 941, 218, 297, 263, 815.
I Denham and Clapperton, p. 60. See also llomemann, Voy. en Afrique, p. 147. — All the Tibboo tribes appear to be
Negroes modified by intermixture with the Arabs and Berbers who surround them.
{For the funereal rites of the Guanches as compared with those of the Egyptians, see Bertholet, ** Mtoioires sur lea
Guanches," in Memoiresde la Society Ethnologiquede Paris, Tome I. — See also Blumenbach, Decad. Cran* Tab. XLII.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORT, AND THE MONUMENTS.
41
period so blended with exotic nations that their distinctive features must be chiefly de-
rived from the monuments, unless the catacombs of Meroe should hereafter throw addi-
tional light on the subject. Of the monumental evidence we have already spoken: we
have seen that the proper Egyptian physiognomy, the same which abounds at Thebes, is
every where conspicuous on the tombs and temples of the Meroite * or monumental
Ethiopians. That these people had no affinity, even in the remotest times, to the Negro
race, would appear from the evidence already adduced, and also from other facts which
remain to be noticed. Among the paintings of the Grand Procession (epoch of Thotmes
IV.,) at Thebes, Mr. Hoskins remarks that the Negro is represented with all the cha-
racteristic features of his race, but that the Ethiopians are painted red like the Egyptians,
having their hair dressed in curls above their foreheads, and in ringlets upon their shoul-
ders-t (Plate XIV., Fig. 22.) So also in the voyage of Scylax, B. C. 360, the Ethiopians
are described as a beautiful people, with long hair and beard ; and the distinguished
English traveller just quoted remarks that the heads sculptured on the pyramids of
Meroe have a nearly European profile. Two of these, which are associated with the
same legend, are represented by the subjoined figures.J The one to the left hand (that
of an unknown king) has mixed lineaments, neither strictly Pelasgic nor Egyptian; while
the right hand personage, who appears to be a priest doing homage, presents a coun-
tenance which corresponds in essentials to the Egyptian type, although the profile apr
preaches closely to the Grecian.
The annexed head, also of a king, and bearing some resem-
blance to the one above figured, is copied from Mr. Wadding-
ton's ^ drawing of a group over the portico of the Fifth Py-
ramid at Djebel Birkel (the ancient Armada) supposed to be
among the oldest sculptures in Nubia.
We have already alluded to the opinion of Prof. Ritter and
others, that the old Bejas and the modern Bishareens were de-
rived from the Berber or Libyan stock of nations. I am ready
* I use the word Meroii in a comprehensive sense for all the ancient civilized region soath of Egypt.
f Travels in Ethiopia, p. 829. Wilkinson, M. and C. Vol. I., Plate LXll.
X Idem. Plate X.
\ Travels in Ethiopia, Plate XIV. See also Cailliaud, Voy. k Meroe, and Hoskins, Plate XXIX.
11
V
42 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
to go farther and adopt the sentiment of the learned Dr. Murray, that the Egyptians
and monumental Ethiopians " were of the same lineage, and probably descended from a
Libyan tribe."
This view of the case at once reconciles the remark of Champollion, Rosellini, Heeren
/ and Riippell, that they could detect the present Nubian physiognomy every where on the
monuments; but at the same time it supersedes the necessity of their inference that Nu-
bia was the cradle of civilization, and that the arts, descending the river, were perfected
in Egypt. The latter question cannot be definitively settled until the arch®ologists de-
cide on the relative antiquity of the Egyptian and Nubian monuments. In the present
stat6 of the discussion, however, the preponderance of facts is greatly in favour of Egypt.*
Without attempting to discuss this intricate question on the present occasion, I will
merely add my conviction that the original Meroites were neither Arabs nor Hindoos,
(although, as we shall explain, they became greatly modified by these nations in after
time) but that they formed an unequivocal link in the Libyan chain of primitive Cau-
casian nations.
The Fellahs. — These people, also called Arab-Egyptians, are found every where in the
valley of the Nile, of which they are the principal cultivators. ** Their heads,'' observes
Mr. Lane, " are a fine oval, the forehead of moderate size, not high, but generally promi-
nent; their eyes are deep sunk, black and brilliant; the nose is straight and rather thick;
the mouth well formed; the lips are rather full than otherwise; the teeth particularly
beautiful, and the beard is commonly black and curly, but scanty."t They have a yel-
lowish complexion, and are, in general, a strong, well formed people. There can be
little question that the Fellahs are a mixture of the Arab stock with the old rural popu-
lation of Egypt; an amalgamation which dates chiefly from the seventh century of our
era, (A. D. 640,) when the Saracens under Amrou conquered the country, and separated
it from the Greek empire. The constant influx of Arab population from that time to
the present must have more or less modified the features of the previous inhabitants; and
yet even now we are assured by Jomard and others, that the Fellahs of upper Egypt
present a striking resemblance, in all respects, to the monumental paintings and sculp-
tures. "A Taspect des hommes du territoire d'Esne, d'Ombos, ou d'Edfou, ou des
environs de Selsele, il semblerait (pour emprunter une image du plus celebre des
ecrivains modernes) que les figures des monuments de Latopolis, d'Ombos, ou d'Apol-
linopolis Magna, se sont detachees des murailles, et sent descendues dans la cam-
pagne.^t
Mr. Gliddon's kindness has furnished me with eight Fejlah skulls, of which five
are represented in the subjoined wood-cuts. Three of them only are adult, and all are
small, and present a remarkable prominence of the face (termed prognathous by Dr.
Prichard;) a feature which appears exaggerated in the following outlines, on account
of the occiput and teeth being drawn on the same plane.
* See Gliddon, Ancient Egypt, passim,
f Modern Egyptians, Vol. IT., p. 82.
\ Jomard, apud Mengin, Hist, de TEgyptc, p. 408. To this valuable memoir the reader is referred for various addi-
tional analogies which are unavoidably omitted on the present occasion.
DEBITED FROM ANATOMY, BISTORT, AND THE MONUMENTS.
The large receding forehead,* so characteristic of both Arabs and Fellahs (and, as we
have seen, of the several links of the great Semitic chain of nations,) is well marked in
most of these crania, together with the long and salient nose.
That several of them are in feature more Arab or even Semitic than Egyptian (A, C,)
is obvious, and the reason has been already given; yet how far the Fellahs will compare,
in the details of physical character, with the true Libyan or Berber tribes, remains for
futuro investigation. When this shall hare been accomplished, it may be found that
the Fellahs preserve the nearest approximation to the ancient Egyptians of any people
now inhabiting the valley of the Nile.
2. THE PELASGIC RACE.f
The proofs that people of the Pelasgic stock were in early times the rulers of Egypt is
attested by history and the monuments. Manetho states that the XVI. dynasty was com-
posed " Of thirty-two Hellenic shepherd kings, (rcotfiEVES EAJbTves ^aat^is,X) who reigned
five hundred and eighteen years." It is not to be supposed that the number of either
kings or years is accurately given: all that is necessary to our purpose is the main fact
of Hellenic dominion in Egypt, which is moreover sustained by monumental evidence;
for happily the tombs and temples preserve the portraits of the Nilotic sovereigns, exe-
cuted with so much individuality of feature and expression, as to leave little doubt of the"
general fidelity of the likenesses. These effigies, which are now indelibly preserved in
the great works of ChampolHon and Rosellini, present the following interesting results.^
* " Le front haul et large, dicouvert et un pen fiijant." — Jomard.
I In addition to the few remarka already made in reference to m; uae of this term, I may obeervo that the Pelaagi
were generally regarded aa the aboriginal inhabitanta of Theesaly; but their warlikn and roving propenailiea led them to
extend Ibcir migintionB in various dircctiona, anlil we find it difficult, if not impoaaible, to distinguish between them and
the affiliated Iribea of Dacianp, Macedonians and Thraciana. At one period they ranged nearly the whole country from
lUyria to the Black Sea. and gave the name of Pelasgia to all Greece; and, as every one knows, the Greeks or Hellene*
were their lineal dcKccndants. See Prichard, Researcliee. Vol. III., and Mra. Gray's History of Etruria, Tol. I., p. 80.
JCcty, Frag. p. lU.
} For the proufK (hat these effigiea are really portraits of the penona repreaented, the reader is referred to Rosellini'a
chapter entitled, " Iconografia dei Farauuni e dei re Groci de 'Egitto." in his Monumenti, M. S., Vol. II., p. 461. Por.
traits of the same king sometimes differ very coneiderably from each other, I grant, but the instances are few in compa-
rison, and may have been intended lo designate different periods of life; nor are these diSbrences greater than we are
accustomed to eec in the physiognomy of modern kings, as repreaented on their respective coins and medals. But even
if it could he demonstrated that the Nilotic paintings are not portraits, it would not diminish their ethnographic value, for
they at least delineate tlie characteristic physiognomy of the Egyptiana. See also, Champollion, "Lctlree ^critea de
I'Egypte et de la Nubie."
44
OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
The oldest identified human efi^y now extant is that
on the Tabkt of Wady Halfa^ preserved in the gallery
of Florence.* This venerable relic, which has been
satisfactorily proved to date more than two thousand
two hundred years before the Christian era,t repre-
sents Osortasen the First in the form of Ammon, and
receiving from the god Monthou (Mars) the people of
Lybia bound with cords as captive nations.
The features of the king are strictly Pelasgic; and
the facial angle, (allowing for the unnatural elevation
of the ear,) measures upwards of eighty degrees. It is
also remarkable that this head is strikingly like those
of the Ptolemaic sovereigns of Egypt, and especially
corresponds in every feature with the portrait of Ptole-
my Euergetes II., although eighteen centuries elapsed
between their respective reigns. We therefore recur
to our proposition, that whether this effigy be a portrait
or not, it at least proves that the artists of those prime-
val times derived their ideas of the human countenance
from Caucasian models.
The next of these heads which can be identified with its epoch, is that of Amunoph I.
This again presents a fine cast of European features; such, in fact, as would embellish a
Grecian statue; and yet this monarch reigned in the valley of the Nile, and held his
court in Memphis more than eighteen hundred years before the birth of Christ. (Plate
XIV., Fig. 1.) And if from this remote period we trace the physiognomy of the kings
and queens of the subsequent reigns, we perceive among them many equally beautiful
models, some of which are not inferior to the heau ideal of classic art Take, for example,
the heads of Menepthah ^nd Rameses III., in the character of priest, — Rameses X.,
Rameses XL, and Amenmeses, — the queens Nofre-Ari, and Nitocris, and the daughter
of Phisham (or Pihme,) the regent priest, and let me ask among what people we shall
find more graceful facial lines, or more varied intellectual expression? (Plate XIV.)
It may be suggested that in some of these heads the Pelasgic character is not wholly
unmixed, and especially in reference to Amunoph the First. In this instance there is
something of the Egyptian, or, as Professor Blumenbach would express it, the Hindoo
physiognomy. I wish it to be understood, however, that I do not assert all these sove-
reigns to have been of the Pelasgic or Japetic stock; for some of them, as Rameses the
Third, and Menepthah the First, are on other occasions represented with decidedly
Egyptian features. These mixed and varied Caucasian lineaments may perhaps have
been derived from the antecedent Hellenic kings, who in giving place again to the native
Egyptians, must doubtless have left their national characteristics more or less blended
with those of the indigenous families,
* Cbampollion, Monuments, Tom. I., Plate I. The annexed figure ia greatly enlarged from Champollion'a drawing.
See also Roaellini, M. R., Plate XXV., in which the eye ia wanting,
t ChampoUion Fig^ac, Egypte, p. 293.
— V =fe'-'~ii^, .Trm
DEBITED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE M0NDHENT3. 46
The following heads, which are all of strictly Caucasian proportions, are f<K simih
copies from Rosellini. Thej are derived from groups of figures engaged in various
mechanical and other operations, as represented in the tombs and temples of Thebes, and
varioas other parts of Egypt
The annexed head, (1) that of a reaper, is one of a great number
executed in bas-relief in the celebrated tombs of Eilethyas, which
possess a greater interest and value in ethnography on account of
their venerable antiquity; for they date with and before the eighteenth
dynasty, and consequently are at least three thousand six hundred
years old.* The great French work, (Description de I'Egypte,)
contains an extended series of illustrations from the same remarlutble
tombs in which a similar cast of features is almost every where ap-
parent!
The same style of face is not less decidedly expressed in another head (2) from Rosel-
lini,t of which the original painting is preserved in the Royal Gallery
at Florence. It represents an artisan. How admirably do the fea-
tures conform to the Grecian type !
I repeat the remark, and yet more em-
phatically, in reference to the admirable
battle scene at Abousimbel, of the age of
[ \ Rameses the Third, wherein eighty sol-
~~'" ~~ diers are depicted in a single group, each
one bearing a shield and spear.i Are they mercenaries
from one of the Hellenic tribes? I select the two subjoined
examples; (3) for a close resemblance pervades them all-
Here again every line is Grecian; and yet when these paint-
ings were executed, the wandering Pelasgi had hardly begun
to associate themselves in civilized communities, and the arts
of Greece were unknown.
Paintings of a similar ethnographic character are seen in profusion at Beni-Hassan,
whence is derived the annexed outline, representing one of
the leather-dressers of that group. The straight line for the
nose and forehead are strictly Pelasgic, and conform in most
respects to the other facial traits. (4)
The same general physiognomy is often much more rudely
expressed, as in the tomb of Imai, at Gizeh, which is of the age
of Shufo, of the fourth dynasty, and consequently the period
of disputed chronol(^y. Rude as these figures are, and iden-
tified with an humble sphere of life, they have the Caucasian
form, and partake of the same ethnographic lineaments with the more elaborately finished
* RoMllini, M. C, Plate 83.
% RoMlUDi, H. C, Plate 13.
t Antiquili^ Tom. I., Plate 61
t Idem. M. R., Plate 90.
46 OBSERVATIONS ON BGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
outlines delineated above. It maj be observed, with re-
spect to Egyptian art, that while the bas reliefs are for the
most part executed with remarkable beauty and precision,
the paintings, owing to the use of a single colour, and the
absence of perspective or shading, are often coarse and
defective; and the two annexed drawings will serve to
illustrate this negligent style of art.
It is thus that we trace the Pelasgic type of feature and expression through all the
various castes of the Egyptian population, beginning with kings and ending with pea-
sants and plebeians. The illustrations have been purposely selected from those remote
times wherein chronology becomes confusion, down to the later periods of recorded his-
tory, — a vast period of thirteen centuries, of which the latest date looks back nine hundred
years before the birth of Christ !
People of Pelasgic features and complexion are oflen seen on the monuments as pri-
soners taken in war. One of these is copied, Plate XIV., Fig. 23. It is from Abou-
simbel, and dates with Rameses III. The very fair skin, regular features and black hair
seem to point to a nation of southern Europe. The nose is nearly straight, and on the
same line with the forehead, although the latter recedes more than is consistent with our
ideas of the Grecian profile.*
3. THE SEMITIC RACE.f
That people of this great family were numerous in Egypt is amply attested both by
sacred and profane history ; and the proximity of their respective countries necessarily
brought the Semitic and Egyptian communities into frequent contact for war or for
peace. This fact is abundantly proved by the monuments. The Jewish people, how-
ever, appears, for the most part, to have been admitted into Egypt upon sufferance; for
the Exodus, and all subsequent annals, are conclusive on this subject.
Those peculiar lineaments which, from very remote times, have characterized some of
the Semitic nations, have been already noticed. How many of these nations possessed
these physical characters, cannot now be determined ; but it is probable that all partook
of them in degree. It is in the temple of Beyt-el-Walee, in Nubia, in paintings of the
age of Rameses II., (B. C 1579,) that we meet with one of the earliest unquestionable
delineations of these people. (Plate XIV., Fig. 24.)
« RoseUini, M. R., Plate lfl6.
f The Semitic race extended from the MeditarmneBO sea on the west to the confines of Persia on the East, and doabt-
less possessed |^at variety of feature and complexion. They derive their collective name from Shem, " from whom, in
the table of nations in the book of (Genesis, entitled Toldoth Beni Noah, many of them are declared to have descended.'*
Prichard, Researches, 11., p. 208, 2d ed. The principal of these nations, adds Dr. Prichard, were those of Elam, to
the north-west of the PeiaiaB Gulf; the Assyriaas; the Chasdim, or Chaldeans, who are the ancestors of the He-
brews and Arabs; the Lydians; and the Syrians, or people of Aram. They are also called, collectively, Syro-Arabian
nations.
The Jews were immensely numerous in Egypt during the Ptolemaic and Roman epochs. Vide Josephus, Book XII.,
chap, ii.— Sharpe, Egypt under the Romans, p. 13.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 47
An additional illustration is that given in the margin. It is also preserved in the temple
of Beyt-el-WaleOi and is of the same date as the head above described. These people arc
generally represented as enemies or bondsmen; nor have I
any doubt that the figures in the celebrated Brickmdker* s scenCy
in the tomb of Rekshari, at Thebes, of the age of Thotmes
lY., are those of a Semitic nation, and, in all probability, He-
brews. Their features obviously correspond with those of
the latter people ; and their scanty beards, which have been
made an objection to this view of their nationality, may be re-
garded as a compulsory badge of captivity. Perhaps the most
Hebrew ^or/raeV on the monuments is that of Aahmes-Nofre-
Ari, Queen of Amunoph I., who is said by the hieroglyphists to have been by birth a Me-
roite. (Plate XIV., Fig. 13.) Semitic features, as we have already shown, are occasion-
ally found among the embalmed heads from the catacombs; in proof of which I refer, with
confidence, to Plate XL, Fig. 2; and also, though less strongly marked, to Plate II., Fig.
8, Plate VI., Figs. 2 and 8, and to Plate XII., Figs. 1 and 2.
My studies have not qualified me for philological comparisons and inferences, but I
cannot forbear introducing the following views of the learned Dr. Lepsius, on account of
their direct bearing upon this interesting question. Speaking of the Egyptian and Coptic
tongues, he says: — *'I have now discovered, in the essence of the language itself, not
only that there is no appearance whatever of any grammatical change, and that it pos-
sesses, perhaps in a higher degree, that principle of stability so peculiar to the Semitic
dialects-, but also that it has preserved in its formation traces of a higher antiquity than
any Indo-Germanic or Semitic language wherewith I am acquainted, which traces will
therefore be most unexpectedly important even for these two families. At the same time
the Ck)ptic cannot be termed either Semitic or Indo-Germanic. It has its own peculiar
formation, though, at the same time, its fundamental relationship with these two families
is not to be mistaken."^
The Arabs. — The southern or peninsular Arabs are a people of middle stature, with
a complexion varying from a sallow hue to a very dark colour. They have sharp, bold
features, a rather prominent face, and a straight or gently aquiline nose. The head
is, moreover, comparatively small, and the forehead rather narrow and sensibly receding;
to which may often be added a meagre and angular figure,! lo^gi slender limbs, and
large knees. Some tribes are also remarkable for the small stature of the men, which,
according to Burckhardt, does not exceed five feet two or three inches; while, with a
thick head of hair, they possess a short, thin, and pointed beard, j:
Such are some of the Bedouins; but the most formidable Arab tribes have always been
the Hemyarites of Yemen ; a restless and enterprising people, whose migrations have been
* Letter to the Cbev. Bunsen. See Wiseman^s Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion, 2d edit., p. 62; and a
note at the end of that most learned and instructive work, " on the conformity between the Semitic and the Indo-Euro-
pean grammatical forms."
t " Toutes leurs formes sout anguleuses," says Denon ; <« leur barbe courte et i m^bes pointues." Voyage en £gypt«f
L, p. 92.
X Bedouins and Wahabys, p. 2S.^Clot Bey, Aper^u generate de TEgypte, L, p. 16L
49 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGHAPHY,
chiefly directed to Africa, and especially to the valley of the Nile; a region which they
have invaded and more or less occupied from the earliest times, through the reigns of
the Pharaohs, Ptolemies, and Catsars, down to a recent period of our own era. What
language can be stronger than that of Juba, (about the commencement of our own era,)
that the inhabitants of the valley of the Nile, from FhiltB to Meroe, were not Ethiopians,
but Arabs? So, also, in the days of Strabo, half the population of Cqptos itself was made
up of the same people.
The cranial resemblances between the Arabs and ancient Egyptians impressed me
forcibly from the commencement of my inquiries; which last I have been able to prose-
cute in a more satisfactory manner by means of a series of Arab skulls, obtained in Egypt
by Mr. Gliddon. I subjoin outline drawings of five of them, in order that the reader may
judge for himself.
These skulls are all adult, and though comparatively small, give a mean internal ca-
pacity of eighty-four cubic inches, which is above the Egyptian average. The analogy,
however, is greater in form than in size, as may be observed by comparing the above out-
lines with several of the embalmed heads from the catacombs, and especially that figured
Plate VI., Fig. 7. In fact, the resemblance between the Egyptian and Arab head is so
striking, that nothing but a faithful study of the monuments has satisfied me that the
two nations were primitively distinct from each other; and that what I at first believed to
be the Austral-Egyptian conformation, is no other than the Egyptian itself. Some very
ancient paintings, copied by Rosellini from the temple decorations at Beyt-el-Walee, in
Nubia, appear, also, to pertain to the Arab physic^omy. (Plate XIV., Figs. 19, 20.) In
these the yellowish-red complexion indicates, we might suppose, some affinity with the
Egyptian nation, while the small, pointed beard, end sharp, prominent &ce, point to the
Arabian stock of nations. Their name reads Token on the monuments; and they pertain
to the age of Kameses II., and illustrate the conquests of that monarch 1579 years before
Christ.
Without entering into a philological discussion, it is worthy of remark, that the Gheez
or Ethiopic language, the oldest of the known tongues of Abyssinia, is directly allied to
the Arabic and Hebrew. The period of its introduction into Africa is unknown, though
it probably dates far beyond our era. Moreover, among the ruins recently discovered at
Hasan Ghorab, (170 miles east of Aden,) at Sanaa, and at other places in Yemen, inscrip-
tions have been abundantly found in the old Ethiopic tongue, which, in the opinion of
the late Professor Gesenius, is a modification of the parent Hemyarite language.
These few facts, with others which will be adduced hereafter, gtf to prove that the
Egyptian people must have been more or less blended with the Arabian race; nor can
DERIVED FROM ANATOHT, HISTORT, AND THE MOKUHENTS. 49
there be a question that the Meroite or Austral-Egyptian communities were composed, at
least in part, of an Indo-Arablan stock engrafted on the aboriginal Libyan population.
.An able but anonymous author not only asserts the Arab origin of the monumental
Ethiopians, but endeavours to prove, by an ingenious series of facts and reasonings, that
they were the "Blemies of history, a Bejawy branch of the Arabian family;" that they
were broken and finally dispersed by the poHcy of the Roman government, which, in
the reign of Dioclesian, introduced N^ro colonies from Kordofan; and, finally, that the
Nubians of our day are not, as a nation, descended from the ancient stock. The last
proposition, as a general rule, is undeniable; but the preceding conclusions are not
yet susceptible of proof*
Convinced as we are that the Egyptians were a distinct and aboriginal people, the
sentiment of M. Jomard may yet become, to a certain extent, an axiom in ethnography : —
" L'Arabie a ete de tout temps, et elle est encore de nos jours, I'aliment de la population
Egyptienne."t
4. THE HINDOOS.
I observe among the Egyptian crania, some which differ in nothing from the Hindoo
type either in respect to size or configuration. I have already, inmy remarks upon the
ear, mentioned a downward elongation of the upper jaw, which I have more frequently
met with in Egyptian and Hindoo heads than in any others, although I have seen it oc-
casionally in all the races. This feature is remarkable in two of ihe following five crania,
(A, B,) and may be compared with a similar form from Abydos. (Plat« V., Fig. 2.)
The Hindoo head is also remarkable for its small size, its narrow form, especially in
front, and often, also, for the delicacy of the osteol<^ical structure. The bones of the face,
however, project more than those of the European, and there is not unfrequently a mani-
fest eversion of the upper jaw. (B.) The nose is rather small, and the hones are vari-
ously aquiline, straight, or moderately compressed. My observations have been made on
thirty-seven crania, for which I am indebted to Drs. Burrough and Carson, of this city,
and to Dr. Martin and Mr. H. Piddington, of Calcutta. Of these, twenty-four are adult,
varying from eighteen to eighty years of age, and give an average internal capacity of
but eighty cubic inches; the largest head measuring ninety cubic inches, the smallest
only sirty-nine-t They pertain, for the most part, to hm-caste Bengalees.
* Edinburgh Review, Vol. LX., p. 297. t ^P^ Mengin. Hist, de I'Egrpte, III., p. 406.
\ 1 hare lUted, Id my " Crania AmerickDa," tbkt the Hindooa appeu to have the amalleat heads or aoj exiitin; peo.
pie; and that in the Inca Peruviana the brain was but a Traction largier. Later obBervatiooa, however, have led me to
beliefs that the Nigrilot, or aboriginal Negro race of the Indian archipelago, preaent a nearly parallel example.
60 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPBV,
It is in that mixed family of nations which I have called Austral-Egyptian that we
should expect to meet with the strongest evidence of Hindoo lineage; and here, ^;ain,
we can only institute adequate comparisons hj reference to the
works of Champollion and Rosellini. I observe the Hindoo
style of features in several of the royal effigies, and in none more
decidedly than in the head of Asharramon, as sculptured in the
temple of Dehod, in Nubia. The date of this king has not yet
been ascertained; but as he ruled over Meroe, and not in Egypt,
(probably in Ptolemaic times,) he may be regarded as a good
illustration of at least one modification of the Austral-Egyptian
type.
Another set of features, but little different, however, from the preceding, is seen among
the middling class of Egyptians as pictured on the monu-
ments, and these I also refer to the Hindoo type. Take, for
example, the four annexed outlines, copied from a sculptured
fragment preserved in the museum of Turin. These effi-
gies may be said to be essentially Egyptian; but do they
not forcibly remind us of the Hindoo?* The mummied
head figured Plate X., Fig. 6, has the same general form
and cast of features.
The Hindoos are also represented on the monuments as prisoners and tribute-bearers
to the kings. My drawing, Plate XIV., Fig. 21, is copied from the " Grand Procession"
of Thotmes IV. The man leads a bear; an indication that he is of a foreign country,
for there are no bears indigenous to Africa. Moreover, the characters of the animal, as
delineated in Rosellini, are not unlike those of the celebrated grotesque species of India
called by naturalists Ursus Idbiatus, which has been, in all f^es, a favourite with Hindoo
mountebanks. The man himself has an aquiline and pointed nose, thin beard, receding
forehead, and comparatively fair complexion, which assimilate him to some Indo-Semitio
or Indo-Persian tribe.
In the same celebrated scene I notice another bead of the same general cast, but of a
darker complexion and more delicate features, who answers yet more accurately to the
type of the northern Hindoos. He wears a light dress and grass
hat, and moreover leads an elephant, all of which point to a
warm climate. Mr. Hoskins remarks that "the elephant mast
be from Ethiopia : if, therefore, they [the attendants] are Scy-
thians, as some suppose, they must be employed as slaves bring-
ing the produce of Ethiopia." And he concludes by suggesting
that they may be white slaves of the latter country, sent as a
present to the Egyptian king. This appears to me to be an
involved and unsatisfactory explanation. The elephant, like the
bear, is obviously an Asiatic animal, (for the Egyptians made no
use of the living native species,) and it is evident that this group is merely typical of
some conquered Hindoo nation, or proximate and cognate tribe.
« RoMlUni, U. S. U., p. 174, 898,
A
\
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 51
Winkelman, Blumenbach, and other authors, have also been struck with these cranial
resemblances; and certain physical analogies were familiar to the writers of antiquity.
They are especially recorded by Strabo and Arrian, who compare the southern Hindoos
to the Ethiopians, and the northern Hindoos to the Egyptians. Various shades of com-
plexion, as we have remarked, were common to both countries, together with a small
stature and slender limbs.
History, mythology and the arts discover various additional analogies between these
venerable nations. Apis, the Egyptian bull, was the symbol of Osiris; and the white
bull is the animal on which Siva is represented on the Indian pagodas: worship was be-
stowed alike on the Ganges and the Nile; both nations paid homage to the sun and the
serpent; and even at the present time, the objects held in greatest veneration by the Hin-
doos of the Vishnu sect are the ape, the monkey, the bird called garruda, and the serpent
capella. Among the symbols of superstition in each are the sphinx, the lotus, the lin-
gam, and the cross. " The dog, sacred to Bhairava, a form of Siva, and the jackall of
Durga, remind us of the barking Anubis, the companion of Osiris. The dogs of Yama,
one of which was termed Cerbura, or spotted, and was feigned to have three heads, cor-
responds remarkably, as Mr. Wilford has observed, with the three-headed Cerberus, the
dog of Pluto."*
This affinity is also recognised in their almost exclusive vegetable diet, and by the sin-
gular institution of castes. Analogies are, moreover, traced in the architecture of the two
nations, whether in their monolithic temples and subterranean sanctuaries, or in the sta-
tuary and minor decorations of their stupendous temples.f
That there was extensive and long-continued intercourse between the Hindoos and
Egyptians is beyond a question ; and history speaks, also, of conquest and migration.
Which was primitively the dominant power? The Egyptians very naturally decided
this point in their own favour; for they assert that Osiris crossed Arabia to the utmost
inhabited parts of India, and built many cities there. " He left, likewise," says Diodorus,
'' many other marks of his being in these parts, which have induced the inhabitants to
believe and affirm, that this god (Osiris) was born in India."t Thus it appears that, in
the age of Diodorus, the Hindoos not only worshipped, but claimed as original to them-
selves, the principal divinity of the Egyptians. There is, moreover, a passage in Syncel-
lus which directly asserts that the Hindoos, who, as we have observed, are sometimes
called Ethiopians in ancient history, formed colonies in Egypt. "iEthiopes ab Indo
fluvio profecti, supra ^Egyptum sedem sibi eligernnt." Heeren, from whom I derive this
quotation, remarks, that as the Hindoos would necessarily arrive by sea, they would esta-
blish themselves on the coast. We grant it; but a commercial and migratory people
would soon find their way to the great mart of Meroe, and thence to every part of the
Egyptian provinces. It has been observed by Mr. Bonomi, that the affiliation of the
Hindoos with the people of the upper Nile is confirmed by the affinity which exists
♦ Prichard, Egyptian Mythology, p. 85.
t Crania Americana, p. 37.
I Bibliotheca, B. I., C. 2. <*Khem, of whom Osiris is a form, is the great deity corresponding to the Indian Si\'a;
Phthabt of whom Horns is another form, is the Indian Brahma; and Kneph is the counterpart of Vishnu.*' Cory, in
Harapollo, Pref., p. x.
52 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
between the Ethiopic and Sanscrit systems of writing, as pointed out by Dr. Wall and
Mr. Tudor.*
Dr. Prichard, whose profound investigations into this and all other questions in eth-
nography, command our highest respect, while he admits that great difficulties present
themselves in the present inquiry, remarks ''that a common origin, if not of the races
themselves, at least of the mental culture characteristic of both of them, has been proved;
and that the people of India and of Egypt derived from one source the first principles of
all their peculiarities of thought and action, of their religious and social observances, and
civil and political institutions; and that these principles had even been developed to a
considerable extent, before the nations themselves were entirely cut off from communica-
tion with each other or with a common centre. "f
It has been proved by the philosophic Heeren, that Meroe was the grand emporium of
the trade between the richest and most productive portions of the earth; the gold coun-
tries of eastern Africa, the spice lands of India, and the region of frankincense and pre-
cious stones in southern Arabia. He has shown that the communication between these
countries was established in the most ancient periods, and continued without interruption
through successive ages of time; that the ruins of Adule, Azab, and Axum, yet mark the
caravan routes between Meroe and Arabia Felix ; and that Yemen, though separated
from India by an open sea, is yet connected with it by nature in an extraordinary man-
ner. '' One half of the year," he adds, ''from spring to autumn, the wind regularly sets
in and wafts the vessels from Arabia to India; the other half, from autumn to spring, it
as regularly carries them back from India to Arabia.'']:
In truth, what Diodorus says, in general, of early Egyptian commerce and conquest
by sea, need be no longer regarded as fabulous, although the details, like much that we
glean from the remote history of all heathen nations, are to be received with circumspec-
tion. He tells us that Sesostris (Rameses III.) fitted out a fleet of four hundred ships
in the Arabian gulf, with which he conquered all the countries bordering on the Eryth-
rean sea, as far as India, whence he led an army beyond the Ganges until he again
reached the ocean. This account is not likely to be all fable, especially since it comes
from a Greek historian ; and we may safely regard it as an indication of that extensive
maritime enterprise in which the Egyptians engaged with the southern nations of Asia.
When the Romans under the guidance of Hippalus, eighty years after their conquest of
Egypt, began to trade with India by way of the Red Sea and Malabar, they only re-
established the ancient route, which had been long forgotten amidst the chaos of political
revolutions. In fine, if the Egyptians had been their own historians, we should probably
learn that they were as familiar with India in ancient as the English are in modern times.^
♦ Trans. Roy. Soc. of Literature, I., p. 173. (London.)
t Prichard, Researches, Vol. IL, p. 218.
X Ancient African Nations. — That the Indo-European race (of which the Hindoos are a branch,) has been among the
roost enterprising and widely distributed nations of the earth, is incontestably proved by the prevalence of the Sanscrit
tongue as an element of many languages from Hindoetan westward to the shores of Iceland, and eastward to the Poly-
nesian Isles.— Malte Brun, Geography, Vol. I.; p. 660.
i It is curious to observe that although the Hindoos in our day have little intercourse witli Nubia and the adjacent
provinces, the circumstance is owing to a want of those incentives to commerce which existed in antiquity ; but Burck-
hardt describes the remains of Indian traffic as now seen in Mecca and Djidda, in Arabia, where the Hindoos yet sell the
manufactures and other productions of their own country. — Travels in Arabia, p. 14, 119.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, mSTORT, AND THE MONUMENTS. 53
While we concludei therefore, that the Egyptians were a distinct people from either
the Arabs or Hindoos, we cannot deny those resemblances which are too obvious to be
mistaken, yet not to be accounted for without difficulty; nor can there be a reasonable
doubt that the people of both these nations formed an important part of the once multi-
tudinous population of Egypt.*
5. THE HYKSHOS.
There is no fact in history more familiar than the rule of the Hykshos or shepherd
kings in Egypt. The word Hykshos is the same as we have seen (p. 38,) both in the
Egyptian and Berber or Libyan tongues, and signified a shqpherd or a wanderer. It was
applied to all those foreigners who at different times displaced the native dynasties, —
Scythians, Hellenic tribes, Phenicians, and others.
Reserving some remarks for a future part of this memoir, we shall briefly observe that
there is no monumental record of more than one of these sovereignties, namely, that which
was expelled by Amunoph the First of the eighteenth dynasty, about eighteen centuries
before Christ. These people, whose name was held in execration by the Egyptians, are
said by Herodotus and other historians to have possessed a fair complexion, blue eyes,
and reddish hair. That they were of the Caucasian race there is no question; but the
preceding traits apply equally to the Scythians, the Phenicians, and the Edomim or
Edomites, and it is probable that the shepherd dynasties of Manetho embraced kings
from all these sources.!
The portraits of these intrusive kings, as recently discovered in various parts of Egypt,
not only present a physiognomy entirely different from that of the legitimate monarchs,
but the symbol of their religion is also different, being ''the sun, whose rays terminate
in human hands,'' while the accompanying hieroglyphic legends make no allusion to the
Egyptian deities. '* Their features," observes Mr. Perring, from whom I derive these
facts, ''do not at all resemble the Egyptian; and, though much defoced, are evidently
the same as those found on the propyla of Karnak, where we may recognise a similarity
with the tall, white, slender, blue-eyed, and red-haired race, painted on the soles of the
Egyptian sandals, and appearing also on the monuments, where they are emphatically
called the wicked race ofScheto.^^X One of these effigies is found only on fragments of
stone which had pertaiixed to temples antecedent to the eighteenth dynasty, which struc-
tures were overturned by the legitimate kings of that and the succeeding reigns, and
* The opiniont of Sir O. Wilkinaon are eminently entitled to respect on all Egyptian questiona; and I need not apolo*
gise for quoting his opinions (however they may difibr from those just given,) as briefly expressed in the following pas-
sage. " In manners, langaage, and many other respects, Egypt was certainly more Asiatic than African ; and though
there is no appearance of the Hindoo and Egyptian religions having been borrowed from one another, which many
might be induced to conclude from their great analogy in some points, yet it is not improbable that these two nations
may have proceeded fVom the same stock, and have migrated southward firom their parent country in central Asia.*'
—Ancient Egypt, Vol. I., p. 3.
t St. Augustine states that the Punic or Phenician tongue was in hu day (the fifth century) a living language, and
very like the Hebrew; and that the CantumitUh language was mediate between the Egyptian and the Hebrew. Mrs.
H. Gray. Hist, of Etruria, p. 124.
} Transactions of the Royal Society of literature, Vol. I., p. 140.
14
OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOORAPHV,
the maUriaU used in erecting those splendid Pharaonic monuments of which they yet
form a part.
The three following heads are copied from Mr. Perring's very interesting memoir.
No. 1, the portrait of a king whose name is read Skm by Champollion, copied from
his tomb in the western valley near Thebes. The bold, heavy features, and harsh
expression are very remarkable, and Mr. Perring observes that this personage is repre-
sented of a much lighter red than is usual with the Egyptians.
No. 2. Head of another king of this exotic dynasty, with long sharp features, whose
name reads Atenre-Backhan on the monuments, copied from a stone in the second pro-
pylon of Kamak. *
No. 3. Another effigy of the same king, from the grottoes of £1 Tell, of which Mr.
Perring remarks, that having been copied in haste it is somewhat in caricature.
El Tell, or Tel-el-Amarna, appears to have been the stronghold of these "foreign
marauders," respecting whom Mr. GUddon, after suggesting the probability that the so-
vereigns may have been of Arabian origin, inquires — "whether the present inhabitants,
whose village occupies the once warlike camp or city of Atmre, have in their views and
in their physical conformation, some vestiges of that early tribe of heterodox conquerors?
And may not then the cause of the almost instinctive terror with which the natives of
other parts of Egypt regard this vicinity, proceed from vague traditions of ancient pre-
datory habits, — some fitful legend that has outlived thirty-five centuries?"*
There are many effigies of the same general character of the age
of the fourth Rameses. One of them, a captive, is figured in the
margin. Wilkinson reads their name Tochari on the monuments;
Rosellini translates it Fekkaro. To my view they have the lined
and hardy features of the Celts or Gauls, of whom, however, we
have little knowledge at that remote date, (B. C. 1400,) although
even then they occupied a large part of southern Europe. They
perhaps rather pertain to the Phenician branch of the Cauca-
sian race.
* Appetl to tbe ADtiqii4ruiii of Uorope on tbe deatniction of tbo moiiDniODU of Egypt. B7 George R. Gliddon. p. 27.
The portrait of Atenre-fiftckban, anotbor of tbeee Hykahoe kinge, will be found in WUIuimod, second eeriei, Hate XXX.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 55
There are other paintings, especially some at Abousimbel of the age of Rameses III.,
which correspond in every particular with the Scythian physiog-
nomy as recorded in history;* and the name of Scheto^ by which
they are designated on the monuments, confirms the suggestion
of the hieroglyphists that they represent a Scythian or Scytho*
Bactrian people, f
The researches of Lord Lindsay seem to prove that the As-
syrians were also among the Hykshos conquerors of Egypt;
and the shepherds who invaded Egypt before the time of Abra-
ham are called Cushim by the ancients, which means Ethiopians or Babylonians; for
the country on both sides of the Persian Gulf was called CiLshX
Plutarch, quoting Manetho, asserts that Tiphonean or red-haired men were sacrificed
in the temples of Eletheias, and their ashes scattered to the winds. Was this done in
commemoration of the hatred which the Egyptians bore to the red-haired Hykshos?
6. THE COPTS.
From various antecedent remarks it will be perceived that I regard the Copts as a
mixed community, derived in diverse proportions from the Caucasian and the Negro; and
this diversity of origin may explain the dissimilar characteristics which travellers have
ascribed to them.
Denon, for example, described them as having '* flat foreheads, eyes half closed, and
raised up at the angles, high cheek bones, a broad, flat, and short nose, a large, flattened
mouth, placed at a considerable distance from the nose, thick lips, a little beard, a shape-
less body, crooked legs, without expression in the contour, and long, flat toes."^ Denon
even thinks that these features correspond, in a remarkable manner, with the human face
and figure as represented in Egyptian painting and sculpture! And Sonnini, after de-
scribing them in nearly analogous terms, adds the moral reproach, that while '^ they are
the ugliest of men, they are the filthiest and most disgusting." ||
If we compare these seemingly exaggerated descriptions with those of Brown, Lane,
and some other travellers, the discrepancy is so great as, at first thought, to baffle all
explanation. Brown, for example, "*' was not struck with any resemblance to the Negro
features or form;" and he saw nothing remarkable in the texture of the hair.TT "The
eyes of the Copts," says Mr. Lane, "are generally large and elongated, slightly inclining
from the nose upwards, and always black. The nose is straight, excepting at the end,
where it is rounded and wide; and the lips are rather thick, and the hair is black and
curly."** Madden adds that they are characterized by a remarkable distance between
the eyes. Belzoni observed among them some as fair as Europeans; Rosellini assures
as that they are largely mixed with Jewish and Roman blood ;tt ^^d D'Avezac, like De-
pauw, discovers in them a partial Chinese ancestry. These, and numberless other opi-
♦ Pricbard, Researches, Vol. III., p. 441. f Champollion, MonumeDS, Tom. I., Plate XXXVI.
X Mrs. H. Gray, History of Etruria, Vol. I., p. 31, 39. j Voyage en Egypte, I., p. 206.
U Trav. in Egypt, II., p. 168. See also Volney, Voyage, I., p. 70. IT Trav. in Africa, p. 77.
** Modern Egyptians, II., p. 310. ft Monumenti, M. C. II., p. 77.
56 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
nions which might be cited, prove that the Copts differ greatly among themselves; and
that they are, physically and morally, a mixture of all the nations which have success
sively held dominion in Egypt, or swelled its varied population — Egyptians of various
castes, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Hebrews, Negroes, and some others. Such was, at least
in part, the opinion of Pugnet, (whose memoir I have not seen,) for he separates them
'4nto two divisions; those whose ancestry has been intermixed, and partly of Greek and
Latin descent, and a class of purely Egyptian origin."* But, after all, perhaps the
traces which are most invariable in the Copt are derived from the Negro; and they are
manifest in the very bones of the head and face.
" The inhabitants of the towns of Arabia and Egypt," says Burckhardt, " are in the
daily habit of taking in wedlock Abyssinian as well as Negro slaves;"! and, in a subse-
quent part of his travels, the same intelligent author describes a class of people in Nubia
who are the direct offspring of this mixture of race, and who seem, from his description,
to answer the characters of the Copts themselves. ''The Nouba slaves (among whom
must be reckoned those who are born in Senaar of male Negroes and female Abyssinians)
form a middle class between the blacks and the Abyssinians. Their features, though
they retain evident signs of Negro origin, have still something of what is called regular;
their noses, though smaller than those of Europeans, are less flat than those of Negroes;
their lips are less thick, and the cheek bones less prominent. The hair of some is woolly;
but among the greater part it is similar to the hair of Europeans, but stronger ^ and always
curled." Another, and yet more striking example of the Negroid conformation is seen
in the vast Foulah or Fellatah population of central Africa, which is now spread over a
region of fifteen hundred miles from east to west, and five hundred miles from noAh to
south. That they are a mixed progeny of Arabs, Berbers and Negroes, no longer admits
of a reasonable doubt. Such is the opinion of D'Avezac and Hodgson, Vatar, Adelung,
and most other inquirers. " In the midst of the Negro races," observes M. D' Avezac,
*^ there stands out a metive population, of tawny or copper colour, prominent nose, small
mouth, and oval face, which ranks itself among the white races, and asserts itself to be
descended from Arab fathers and Taurodo mothers. Their crisped hair, even woolly,
though long, justifies their classification among the Oidotric (woolly-hahred) populations;
but neither the traits of their features, nor the colour of their skin, allow them to be con-
founded with Negroes, however great the fusion of tHe two types may be." J These and
other facts derived from the slave trade, when considered in connexion with the Negro
colonization of Nubia in the reign of Dioclesian, will account, I may repeat, not only for
every blending of race observable in that country, but also assists us in tracing the origin
of the Copts; — not to ^period of time, it is true, but to circumstances which have been
in operation for ages, and which were once, in all probability, far more active than they
are at present.
By the kindness of Mr. Gliddon I possess three Coptic skulls, two of which are adult,
and are accurately sketched in the subjoined drawings, (A and B.)
* Phchard, Researches, II., p. 238. f Trav. in Nubia, p. 217.
I For ample details of this interesting question, see D'Avexac, Esquisse g^n^rale de TAfrique, p. 55; and Hodgson on
the Fodahs of Central Africa, p. 5, et poitim.
68 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
nations, tliongh it is still far from the Negro lip. Their hair is bushy and strong, but
not woolly." The same intelligent traveller subsequently speaks of their language, re-
specting which he was certainly well qualified to judge: he assures us that the people
south of Siout are ancient Bedouin tribes, who speak a very pure Arabic; and he makes
a nearly similar remark respecting those who inhabit the river banks from Dongola to
Senaar, and thence westward to Bornou, although they speak many different dialects.*
It is well known, however, that there are whole tribes in Nubia whose language is not
derived from the Arabic; and these may be more nearly allied to the primitive popula-
tion. " The inhabitants of Dar Dongola," says Dr. Riippell, "are divided into two prin-
cipal classes, namely, the Barabra, or descendants of the old Ethiopian natives of the coun-
try ^ and the races of Arabs who have emigrated from the Hedjar. The ancestors of the
Berabra, who, in the course of centuries have been repeatedly conquered by hostile tribes,
must have undergone some intermixture with people of foreign blood; yet an attentive
inquiry will enable us to distinguish among them the old national physiognomy which
their forefathers have marked upon colossal statues, and the bas-reliefs of temples and
sepulchres. A long, oval countenance, a beautifully curved nose, somewhat rounded
towards the tip, proportionately thick lips, but not protruding excessively, a retreating
chin, scanty beard, lively eyes, strongly frizzled but never woolly hair, a remarkably beau*
tiful figure, generally of middle size, and a bronze colour, are the characteristics of the
genuine Dungolawi."t He adds, that the same traits of physiognomy are generally found
among the Ababde, the Bishareen, and partially among the people of Shendy and Abys-
sinia.
It must be acknowledged, however, that we can hardly expect to find the genuine
Egypto-Ethiopian lineaments in any considerable number among the modern Nubians.
Placed as the former were, between the Egyptians on the north, the Indo-Arabian nations
on the east, and the Negroes on the south and west, and this, too, through the long period
of several thousand years, their features must have become sensibly modified, even in the
earliest times, by that blending of race which was inseparable from their position; and as
the Koldagi and other Negro tribes have, at different times, established themselves in
large bodies in Nubia, we need be at no loss, I conceive, in accounting for any traces of
Negro lineage in some Barabra communities of the present day.
Dr. Prichard considers " the descent of the modern Nubians, or Berabra, from the
Nouba (a Negro nation) of the hill country of Kordofan, to be as well established as very
many facts which are regarded as certain by writers on ethnography." With every
deference to that distinguished ethnographer, we may inquire, what became of the pre-
existing inhabitants when the tribes of Kordofan colonized Nubia? Were they destroyed
or expelled? History makes no mention of either; and we are justified in the opinion
that an amalgamation of races took place, whence some of those diversities of organization
observable in the modern Nubians. That this intermixture of races has continued to the
present time, the reader will find abundant evidence in other parts of this memoir; yet I
cannot here refrain from adding an observation from Cailliaud, who, remarking on the
shortness of life among the people of Senaar from disease and dissipation, declares that
the number of Negroes which pours into the country, and the fruitfulness of the women,
* Trav. in Nubia, p. 353. f Prichard, Researches &c. vol. II. p. 174.
60 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
mates the present number in nearly the same words. If it be allowable to make these
data the basis of calculation for the past thirty-five centuries, it will follow that upwards
of ten millions of Negroes have been brought as bondsmen into Egypt during that pe-
riod. This I regard' a reasonable calculation; for in the present wasted and depopulated
condition of the country, the demand for servants and slaves must be far below what it
was in the flourishing epoch of the Pharaohs.*
This vast influx of Negroes into the valley of the Nile must necessarily have left its
impression on the physical traits of the Egyptians themselves; in modern times, as seen
in the Copts, and in more distant periods, as proved by the Negroid heads, in which both
the configuration and expression are too obvious to be mistaken. But it may be inquired,
how does it happen that Negroes or their descendants should be found in the catacombs,
if they constituted a menial or slave-caste in Egypt? In reply, it may be observed that
persons of this race have been capable, in all ages, of elevating themselves to posts of
distinction in the east, and especially and proverbially those who have belonged to the
class of eunuchs.f It is also important to observe, that so tenacious were the Egyptians
of the rights of their offspring, that they admitted them to equal privileges with them-
selves, even when the mother was a slave; and these usages extended to inheritance.^
The preceding facts, without multiplying more on the same subject, amply account for
that interminable amalgamation of the Caucasian and Negro races which has been going
on in Egypt from the remotest times; while they also explain that incidental social ele-
vation of the Negro caste, to which the monuments and catacombs alike bear witness.
This blending of races is farther illustrated in the present population of Nubia. The
traveller Burckhardt remarks, that the slaves sent down the Nile, and those transported
to Arabia, bear but a small proportion to the number kept by the Mahommedans of the
more southern countries of Africa. At Shendy, for example, from one to six are seen in
every family ; and the custom prevails as far as Senaar, and westward to Kordofan, Dar-
four and Bornou. All the Bedouin tribes who inhabit or surround these countries are
well stocked with slaves, nor does the number diminish in the very remote provinces of
Houssa and Begarmeh; and we are told by the same intelligent observer, that the result
of this promiscuous intercourse is a mixed progeny, which blends the characteristics of
the Arab with those of the Negro. §
Negroes are abundantly represented on the pictorial delineations of the Egyptian monu-
ments of every epoch. Complexion, features, and expression, these and every other
attribute of the race, are depicted precisely as we are accustomed to see them in our daily
walks: indeed, were we to judge by the drawings alone, we might suppose them to have
* Clot Bey states the present black population of Egypt to be twenty thousand; and he adds that Negresses form the
greater number of women in almost every harem. Aper^u G^n^rale de TEgypte, I., p. 329.
f A passage in Manetho establishes at the same time the antiquity and the power of eunuchs in Egypt; for ho relates
that king Ammenemes, of the twelfth dynasty, was slain by them. This event will date, by the received chronology,
upwards of twenty-two hundred years B. C. Cory, Frag., p. 110. Eunuchs appear, also, to be figured on the menu-
ments. Vide Rosellini, M. C. III., p. 133.
\ Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, II., p. 64.
\ Notwithstanding this mixture of nations, Mr. Hoekins observes, that the higher classes of modem Ethiopians
(Nubians,) pay great respect to the distinctions of race; that they esteem nothing more than a light complexion, which
the petty kings or chiefs make a prerequisite to the selection of wives; and that, with this class, " all mixture with the
Negro blood is carefully shunned."— Travels in Ethiopia, p. 367.
OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN STHNOGRAFHT,
y -^.--^'v^-V.^
The hair on some other figures of this group is dressed in short and separate tufts, or
inverted cones, precisely like those now worn by the Negroes of Madagascar, as figured in
Botteller's voyage.
In the midst of the vanquished Africans, seated in his car and urging on the conflict,
is Rameses himself; whose manly and heautiful countenance will not suffer by compari-
son with the finest Caucasian models. The annexed outline, (for all the figures are
represented in outline only,) will enable the reader to form his own conclusions respect-
ing this extraordinary group, which is believed to date about fifteen hundred and seventy
years before the Christian era.
64 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
period is that of Rosellini ; but the longer one is perhaps most consistent with facts, and
at least makes room for those various dominations which, in the lists of Manetho, precede
the eighteenth dynasty; which last, headed by Amunoph the First, drove out the intra-
sive kings. During this long period the legitimate sovereigns were exiled into Ethiopia;
and it is evident, that had Meroe been any other than a province or dependency of
Egypt, it is hardly probable that the Egyptians, — kings, priests, and people, — could have
found a safe asylum in that country during the long period of their exile. It is expressly
stated by Joseph us that the shepherd kings lived at Memphis, "and made both the
upper and lower country pay tribute." It would appear, however, that during the
greater part of the Hykshos dynasty, the Egyptians retained possession of the Thebaid :
nevertheless the occupation of Lower Egypt by their enemies, must have effectually pre-
cluded all communication with other countries excepting Ethiopia, southern Arabia and
India; which fact will account for a vast influx of population from those countries, (and
consequently from the slave-regions of Africa) into the Upper Nilotic provinces.
It is moreover reasonable to suppose that even after the expulsion of the Hykshos, mul-
titudes of Egyptians would remain in Ethiopia, — ^that country wherein whole generations
of their ancestors had lived and died; at the same time that great numbers of Meroites,
in^uenced by a variety of motives and especially by social alliances, would descend the
Nile into Egypt
It is moreover evident that while the Egyptians became thus fraternized with the na-
tions of southern Asia, and the motley races of the Upper Nile, the provinces of Lower
Egypt would be overrun with the Caucasian tribes of Europe and western Asia; for
these, either as cognate with the Hykshos or as allies in their service, must have been in
immense number to have conquered so populous a country, and especially to have kept
possession during so long a period. It is to these events, then, that we attribute that
blending of nations which appears to have been coeval with the early ages of the Nilotic
Family, and which amply accounts for the ethnographic diversities every where manifest
on the monuments.
The SECOND epoch is comprised in the Ethiopian Dynasty of three kings, which lasted
forty-four years, beginning B. C. 719.
These Meroite or Austral-Egyptian kings, during their intrusive occupation of Egypt,
would naturally, and indeed necessarily engage the neighbouring tribes, and especially
such as were hostile to Egypt, as mercenary soldiers; and there are more than conjectural
grounds for believing that the Negroes themselves were thus employed. We are told in
the Sacred Writings (2 Chron. Chap, xii.) that when Shishak king of Egypt, who is iden-
tical with Sheshonk of the monuments, — went up against Jerusalem, he took with him
'' 1200 chariots, and three-score thousand horsemen : and the people were without number
that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims and the Ethiopians." Of
this multitude we may presume that the horsemen, and people in chariots were part of
the Egyptian army ; the Lubims and Sukkiims are by most commentators regarded as
Libyans and Meroites, while, as the Ethiopians are placed last on the list, and are desig-
nated in the Hebrew original by the name of Cush, it is not unreasonable to suppose that
they were Negroes. This view is sustained by a passage in Herodotus,^ who states that
* In my Crania Amerieanat Note p. 2d, I have employed this passage to show, that those Colchiatu whom Herodotos
mentions as forming *< part of the troops of Sesostris," might have been Negroes acting as mercenary or auxiliary soU
66 OBSERVATIONS ON EGYPTIAN ETHNOGRAPHY,
4. The Aastral-Egyptian or Meroite communities were an Indo-Arabian stock en-
grafted on the primitive Libyan inhabitants.
5. Besides these exotic sources of population, the Egyptian race was at different pe-
riods modified by the influx of the Caucasian nations of Asia and Europe, — Pelasgi, or
Hellenes, Scythians and Phenicians.
6. Kings of Egypt appear to have been incidentally derived from each of the above
nations.
7. The Copts, in part at least, are a mixture of the Caucasian and the Negro in
extremely variable proportions.
8. Negroes were numerous in Egypt, but their social position in ancient times was the
same that it now is, that of servants and slaves.
9. The national characteristics of all these families of Man are distinctly figured on
the monuments; and all of them, excepting the Scythians and Phenicians, have been
identified in the catacombs.
10. The present Fellahs are the lineal and least mixed descendants of the ancient
Egyptians; and the latter are collaterally represented by the Tuaricks, Kabyles, Siwahs,
and other remains of the Libyan &mciily of nations.
11. The modern Nubians, with a few exceptions, are not the descendants of the menu*
mental Ethiopians, but a variously mixed race of Arabs and Negroes.
12. Whatever may have been the size of the cartilaginous portion of the ear, the
osseous structure conforms in every instance to the usual relative position.
13. The Teeth, differ in nothing from those of other Caucasian nations.
14. The Hair of the Egyptians resembled, in texture, that of the fitirest Europeans
of the present day.
15. The physical or organic characters which distinguish the several races of men, are
as old as the oldest records of our species*
Note. — I hare taken frequent occasion to quote 'the [opinions of the late Professor Blumenbach, of Gottingen, whose
name is inseparably connected with the science of Ethnography; but I haye to regret that up to the present time I ha?e
not been able to procure either in this country or from Europe, Uie last two memoirs which embrace his Tiews on Egyptian
subjects, and especially the work entitled, ^ Specimen faiatoris natuxalis antique artis operibus illustrate." His yiews,
howcTer, as previously given to the world, haye been repeatedly adverted to in these pages; and his matured and latest ob-
servations, as quoted by Dr. Wiseman, appear to have confirmed his original sentiments. **In 1808," says Dr. Wiseman, ^ he
more clearly expressed his opinion that the monuments prore the existence of three dUtinct forms or physiognomies among
the ancient inhabitants of Egypt. Three years later he entered more fully into this inquiry, and gave ^e monuments, which
he thought bore him out in this hypothesis. The first of these /omis he considers to approach to the Negro model, the second
to the Hindoo, the third to the Berber, or ordinary Egyptian head. {BetrSgre zur Naiurgesehichief 2 ter Th. 181 1.) But
I think an unprejudiced observer will not easily follow him so far. The first head has nothing in common with the Black
raeef but is only a coarser representation of the Egyptian type; the second is only its mythological or ideal purification."
Lectures on the Connexion ftefween Science and JReveded Religion, 2d edii. p. 100.
I thus place side by side the opinions of these learned men. V^ith respect to Professor Blumenbach, I may add that when
he wrote on Egyptian ethnography there were no/«c simile copies of the monuments, such as have since been given to the
world by the French and Tuscan Commissions; and again, that learned author had not access to a suflicient number of
embalmed heads to enable him to compare these with the monumental effigies. With these lights he would at once have
detected an all-pervading physiognomy which is peculiarly and essentially Eoyptun; and in respect to which all the other
forms, — Pelasgic, Semitic, Hindu and Negro are incidental and subordinate; sometinies, it is true, represented with the
attributes of royalty, but for the most part depicted as foreigners, enemies and bondsmen.
DERIVED FROM ANATOMY, HISTORY, AND THE MONUMENTS. 67
With Egyptian Mimtuary I am little acquainted. The only four years of my life which were spent in Europe were demoted
almost ezdosiTely to professional pursuits; and the many remains of Egyptian art which are preserved in the British and
continental museoms, have left but a vague impression on my memory. How invaluable to Ethnography are the two statues
of the Fixtt Osortasen, now in the royal cabinet of Berlin! These I have not seen, nor the memoir in which Dr. Lepsius
has described them.
I have, for the most part, omitted any remarks on the intellectnal and moral character of the Egyptians, because they
would have extended my work beyond the limits prescribed by the present mode of publication. I have also avoided, as
much as possible, those philological disquisitions which have of late years combined so much interest and discrepancy, but
which are all-important to Egyptian ethnogrraphy, and are daily becoming better understood, and therefore of more practical
value. For an instructive view of this question, and many collateral facts and opinions, the reader is referred to the third
volume of Dr. Prichard*s Reiearchei into the Phytical History of Mankind; a work which commands our unqualified
admiration botfi in respect to the multitude and the accuracy of the facts it contains, and the genius and learning with
which they are woven together.
I look with great interest to the researches of Dr. Lepsius at Meroe; as well as to those of my friend Dr. Charles Picke-
ring, who is now in Egypt for the sole purpose of studying the monuments in connexion with the people of that country.
And finally, it gives me great pleasure to state that the profound erudition of the Baron Alexander de Humboldt is at this
moment engaged in a work which will embrace his views on Egyptian ethnography, and give to the world the matured
opinions of a mind which has already illuminated every department of natural science.
ERRATA.
Page 96, — ^fiflh line from the bottom, for '< page 109," read page 17.
*< 36, — fourth line from the bottom, for *' six figured skulls," read six mJcuUs figured,
*< 41, — fifth line firom the bottom, for *< Armada," read Armada?
*' 43, — ^fourth line from the top, for ** Semitic " read Hebrew.
" 45,— eighth line from the bottom, for " are" read is, and " conform" read canfarms.
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